


The Hub, Complete First Season

by Stoner_Guru



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Boston, Gen, Guns, loup garou, mafia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-26
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 17:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 66,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1059678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoner_Guru/pseuds/Stoner_Guru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vampire mafiosos, werewolf bikers and collaborating humans make up this twisted AU of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Ensemble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hub, Complete First Season

The Hub Season One 

 

“Pilot”

Boston. A city with over two hundred and fifty years of history. Spanning from the Revolution to the Red Sox, from Paul Revere and John Adams to the Kennedys and Whitey Bulger. A crossroad of cultural divergence notorious for violent crime and heavy corruption. The home to a dark underworld with a secret society of vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures all hiding in plain sight. There are few who are aware of our existence, but humanity as a whole sadly just isn’t ready to know the truth. Maybe it’s better that way, because not all of those who have been made aware have been full of acceptance. There’s been anger. There’s been hatred. There’s been blood spilled. A group called Purity wants to rid the world of us. They will destroy anything supernatural, regardless of innocence or guilt. And they’ve come to the Hub. Gods please protect us, and preserve our secret. 

 

August 20th, 1999 

Harmony Kendall, vampire of a mere eighteen years, was dead for the final time. William let out a breathless sigh as he looked down at the nearly decapitated body of the exotic dancer that he had called friend since Liam O’Connor had first brought her to the Hub over a decade prior. The boss was not going to be pleased, and not for the first time William prayed not to be the unlucky soul on the receiving end of his employer’s ire.

Resigning himself, he turns and walks away from the body, pulling his cell phone out and making sure his partner is still out of earshot before quickly dialing a number.

“It’s William.” The South Boston Homicide Detective says into the phone’s receiver a moment later. “Someone killed Harmony. No, I don’t know anything yet and yes I will call you as soon as I have information. Sorry.”

William hangs up just as his partner Jimmy Halloran returns from his inspection of the alleyway next to the small parking lot where Harmony was found.

“Anything?” Will inquires, hoping to have something to bring back, but Jimmy shakes his head.

“Garbage, graffiti and more garbage.” Jimmy replies. “I don’t think this is even the murder scene.”

William already knows it isn’t due to his enhanced senses telling him so, but humors Jimmy. “What makes you say that?”

“Aside from the fact that there doesn’t seem to be enough blood for her to have been done here, I don’t know. Something feels off.”

“I think you’re right Jim.” The blonde vampire says. “Look at the marks on the neck, this was clearly done with a serrated blade of some kind, but the splatter is inconsistent. The body was dumped.”

“So where did it happen then, nearby?”

“Only two people know the answer to that question right now.” William replies sardonically. “One of them is dead and the other did it.”

“Cue the CSI music, huh?” Jimmy jibes. “Overdramatic fucker.”

“I’m going home to get some sleep, and tomorrow we’re going to go and check out the club where she worked.” William says, flipping off his partner before starting to walk off. “Stay here until Wesley’s team gets here.”

“How do you know where she works, she didn’t have any identification.” Jimmy questions.

“Cause I’ve known the bird for twelve years.”

“Oh.” Jimmy deflates and watches as his partner leaves.

 

Elizabeth Summers hastily works to straighten her outfit as she strides into the administration offices of the Black Rose Hotel, not wanting to be chastised on her first day for being late. She pushes open the glass door to the reception area of the hotel and casino manager, her new boss Rupert Giles.

“You’re late.” A cultured British voice says as she steps over the threshold and she pales.

“I’m so sorry sir. I got lost in the casino.” She apologizes profusely, almost wilting under the stern look from the Englishman. After a moment he changes his expression to a wry grin and she sags in relief.

“It’s quite alright Miss Summers.” Giles assures her. “I’ve been working here for well over twenty years and I still get lost myself from time to time. Expansions and all that.”

“Do you need me to do anything?” Elizabeth asks, now feeling more relaxed at the fact that her new boss didn’t seem to be a complete prick like the last had been. She might be on a career path that called for her to be, or at least come off as refined, but she would always remember where she came from.

“Just take messages for any calls that come in. I’m expecting a visit from the owner within the next five minutes and I don’t want to waste his time. Other than that, it’s been a slow week so there isn’t much else to do.” Giles replies. “Another few weeks and that will change, once the high rollers are done sunbathing on Cape Cod and down in the Hamptons, they come home and business picks up. We thrive in the winters.”

“Indeed we do.” A dark haired man in his late twenties says as he enters the room, and Elizabeth jumps slightly not having heard his approach. “My apologies lass, I did not mean to startle you.”

“Welcome back to Boston, Liam.” Giles greets, holding his hand out and shaking the other man’s. “I trust your business in Miami went well?”

“It went about as smoothly as expected. Too damn hot there.” Liam replies, pulling his hand away after a moment and moving it to wave vaguely at the door to the inner office. “Shall we?”

“Of course.” Giles says, quickly turning and leading Liam into his office and closing the soundproofed door behind them.

“Two of my men in Framingham are dead, three out of Worcester and Springfield each and the entire Amherst operation has been destroyed.” Liam growls immediately after the door has shut. “I’ve been gone for a week. One fucking week and everything goes to hell. And to top it off I got a call last night from William telling me that someone killed Harmony. And with all that, no one thought to let me know?!”

“You already had enough stress from the whole Drusilla situation last month.” Giles reasons. “I didn’t want to add to it.”

“While I appreciate your thoughtfulness, don’t ever keep me in the dark again.” Liam grinds out. “And don’t ever mention Drusilla’s name in my presence.”

“Yes, sir.” Giles says in a placating tone.

“Purity is behind this.” Liam says. “They needed a new base since Ethan Rayne kicked them out of New York. Remind me to thank him for not killing them all when he had the chance and saving us the trouble.”

“So what’s our move?” 

“We’re on lockdown, indefinitely.” Liam decrees. “No new donators, the ones we have on our payroll will be asked to supply every third week, and make sure that you space out appointments. Last thing we need right now is a blood shortage. We also need to get word to the wolves that they are to stay out of view on the compound for any time spent shifted.”

“Foley isn’t going to appreciate that.” Giles remarks, thinking of the hot-tempered moonchild hit-man. “Especially with the Blood Moon tomorrow night.”

“He’ll understand.” Liam shrugs. “Until we deal with Purity’s presence on the Hub, it isn’t safe for them to wander free, for any of us really. Poor Harmony is proof enough of that. I’m issuing the order to add extra security to all of our fronts, Scarlet Rain, and this place.”

“What about Purgatory?”

“Offer them muscle. If they want it, they’ll take it.” Liam shrugs. “Make the same offer for the compound and Lehane’s tattoo shop.”

“I’ll pass the word down.” 

“Good.” Liam flashes Giles a grin now. “So who was the cute little blonde outside?”

“My new assistant, Elizabeth Summers.” Giles tells him. “Native of South Boston, fresh out of Stanford. I believe her sister sings in the casino lounge. Erica, if memory serves true.”

“Are she or the sister aware?”

“No. I wouldn’t think so.” Giles replies, tension in his voice. “You’re not going to start courting a seventh wife are you?”

“No plans to.” 

“Liam, we’ve known each other for over two centuries. I choose my employees with painstaking care, and you promised when we started this in ‘76 that you wouldn’t poach on them anymore. Please don’t break it, I would be rather miffed to lose such a bright young woman.”

“Are you saying if I did choose to seek a romantic partnership with the lass, you’d fire her?” Liam asks, shocked at his friend’s apparent callousness.

“No, of course I wouldn’t fire the girl.” Giles denies vehemently. “But it goes without saying if she was to get involved with you, she wouldn’t be working as an assistant for long.”

“I guess you know me too well.” Liam smirks.

“I’ve been an associate of yours since 1788, if there is anything that I don’t know about you, I’ll order my own final death.”

“Well, let’s not go that far old friend. We’re all entitled to our secrets.” Liam says as he walks over to the large maple wood cabinet and pulling a bottle out, eyeing the label appreciatively. “Nothing better than a good Dublin Scotch, 1947. Damn that was a great year, remember Willow and Tara’s little lightshow out in the New Mexico desert?”

“I still laugh at all the humans who think aliens touched down.” Giles says, wrapped in the fond memory of an easier time, before the technology boom and the forensic advancements. Sooner or later the truth would come out, and their shroud of secrecy would be destroyed. Being a vampire for going on five centuries there was not much that could rile him but he truly feared that day. “I’m serious Liam, about Miss Summers.”

“Alright fine, I promise not to pursue the Summers lass.” Liam promises and Giles gives a quick nod of appreciation. “If she’s not receptive to meeting me for one dinner, she’ll never see me again.”

“You’re impossible.” Giles glares as Liam pours out two glasses of scotch, and takes the offered drink.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point.” Liam chuckles, taking a deep pull of the scotch and wincing as the liquid burns his throat. “Hey is this O-Negative injected?”

 

James Foley and Faith Lehane were snapped out of their blissful slumber by the shrill chirping of James’ cell phone, and she groans as he gets up to get the offending device off the bureau at the wall opposite their bed.

“Just let it ring and come back to bed.” Faith whines, and James grins at her.

“Can’t do it. Liam got back last night, he might have a job.” James says, grabbing the phone and flipping it open to read the text that had been sent.

[i] Alleyway next to Madison’s bakery on Fairmont. Half Hour. [/i]

James looks away from the text and over at Faith who remains sitting on the bed, looking at him expectantly through large chocolate orbs.

“I gotta go. I need to beat traffic and get into the city for a meeting.” James announces, looking apologetic. 

Faith just rolls her eyes and shrugs. “Fine, go. Leave me here all alone and bored.”

“You’re killing me Faith, you do know that right?” James gives her a look as he pulls an old Led Zeppelin shirt on.

“Fine, but you better not be off on another one of Liam’s little errands during the Blood Moon or I’ll claw Little Lee off.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that.” James warns.

“I’m not afraid of Liam O’Connor, James. That Roman vampire back in Tijuana was far more intimidating.”

“I’m not saying you should be, and neither am I. But I don’t want to have the clan thrown out of the city over something stupid.”

“So I’m stupid now?” Faith’s eyes begin to burn with anger and she struggles to maintain human form.

“No. I didn’t say that. I don’t want to fight again.” James pleads to his irate girlfriend and Faith visibly deflates.

“Fine, whatever. Go be a good little attack dog.” Faith gets out of the bed and quickly pulls her clothes on as James watches, pulling his boots on. “I have to get Vi and go open up the shop anyways. Hopefully I’ll see you tonight.” Faith finishes her dressing and vacates the room they share at a high rate of speed.

James stares at the slightly ajar door that his mate had just disappeared through and lets out a low curse. “Fuck.” It was more likely than not that Liam had a high priority hit for him to undertake. If it was just some unruly vampire or a random human that had offended or caused undue problems then he wouldn’t be meeting with O’Connor directly. Normally he’d be contacted by either Charles Gunn or Dawn McHale. Indeed the last time he had even been in the same room as O’Connor was two nights before he and two other members of the Blood Clover Clan had hit Gwendolyn Post and David Burbank for trying to leak footage of a vampire feeding in the back room of Scarlet Rain.

Shrugging out of his thoughts, James lifts off the small couch and follows the path that Faith had taken moments earlier. About the same time he reaches the front door and starts to open it, the familiar sound of Faith’s restored 1967 Chevy Impala’s engine roars through the air and he comes out of their small house with just enough time to see her speeding off toward Vi and Serena’s apartment in the city. Letting out a short sigh, James locks the front door and walks over to his 1997 Harley Davidson, sliding the key into the ignition and the soft purr of the motor starts up. He mounts the saddle and kicks back the metal supports keeping it up right before speeding out in the direction Faith had fled.

 

“Late night?” Oliver Pike questions his friend J.T. Sullivan as he hobbles into their block of ‘offices’ and slumps into his desk chair. J.T. gives him a dark look before answering.

“Cora’s teething and keeps crying out at all hours of the night, and both Cole and Kellie are terrified there are monsters under the bed.” J.T. explains. “Niki decided it was my turn to handle things.”

“Are you gonna bring the kids to Blood Moon?” Pike asks, as he turns back to his own desk to finish typing up the report from the attempted break in at WilkinsCorp.

“Cora is going to stay overnight with Niki’s friend Amy, she has a eleven month old, but Niki wants to bring Cole and Kellie. She thinks they’re both close to shifting for the first time.”

“That’s gotta make you proud.” Pike comments over his shoulder as his fingers fly over the keyboard.

“Yeah.” JT says, “Only I’m not sure they’re ready. If they’re still afraid of the monsters under the bed, how in the Holy Moon are they going to deal with the real life monsters?”

“I’m hoping that was more of a slam on the bloodsuckers than more of your self-loathing. I thought you were past all that bullshit man.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” JT denies. “I am okay with the way things are. I meant the monsters like Purity.”

“Those racists came to the Hub?” Pike asks, looking incredulous and JT nods grimly.

“The other reason for why I look like shit this morning. I was on call last night, had to secure a body dump site.” JT tells him. “One of O’Connor’s crew got taken out. A dancer of all people.”

“It wasn’t one of the dancers from that place where Serena works was it?”

“Yeah, it was.” JT replies grimly. “Harmony Kendall.”

“How pissed is O’Connor?” 

“I don’t think I want to know. Have you heard from James today?” 

“No, I think he and Faith are still sleeping.” Pike replies. “You’re more than welcome to call and check though.”

“After the fight they had last night, no thanks.” JT refuses. “I’ll just wait for him to call.”

“Pussssssssy” Pike taunts and laughs as he looks over his shoulder to see JT giving him the finger.

“Sullivan! Pike! I need you at the Kendall dump site, the brass wants that whole area combed over thoroughly.” Robin Wood says as he walks up to them. “FBI Agents Knox and Fries are already there and I’m going to be taking Penn and Tara. I want to find you hard at work when I get there so move your sorry asses already. First round’ll be on me at Purgatory tonight.”

“Thanks Major, we’ll get over there now.” Pike says as he and JT stand and begin to head out for the door that led to the private parking lot behind the precinct where the cruisers are kept. Pike and JT get into car 006 and Pike drives out of the gated area and onto the street, heading west.

 

Faith was still fuming as she skidded to a stop outside the apartment shared by Vi MacKenzie and her younger sister Serena Lehane, beeping the horn a couple times. She doesn’t count more than a few seconds before her red haired friend and employee vaults herself over the railing of the second floor porch and landing on the concrete fourteen feet below in a crouch and completely unharmed. Faith rolls her eyes as Vi stands to her feet and hurries over to the Impala. As soon as her passenger has shut the door, Faith slams on the gas and the vintage car roars off down the street.

“Yeah you’re not tense at all.” Vi quips, an insolent but playful tone to her voice. Then her expression turns serious as she takes in the rigid posture of her best friend. “Did you and James get into another fight?”

Faith looks like she wants to say yes, but restrains herself. “No, not exactly. He didn’t really do anything. I just got moody again.” Faith’s frown deepens at seeing the thoughtful expression that comes over Vi’s face a moment later

“You’re not,” Vi pauses for a moment. “Pregnant, are you?”

The redhead winces at the sight of Faith’s hands shaking as she clutches the steering wheel, and she’s gone pale.

“Oh my god…” Vi trails off. “Does James know?”

“NO!” Faith yells, then looks ashamed as she focuses back on the road. “I haven’t told him yet.” She mutters softly. “I’m scared.”

“Why?” Vi questions. “You know he loves you to death, tell him.”

“I’m not scared of him, I’m scared of what Purity being on the Hub means for our future.” Faith admits. “I don’t know if I want to risk a child’s life.”

“Well whatever you decide to do, you are going to tell him, right?” 

“I’m working up to it.” Faith sighs as she pulls the car to a stop in front of Tainted Ink, her tattoo shop. She and Vi get out of the car and walk up to the front door which Faith quickly unlocks and the two women enter. Vi flips the closed sign over and starts raising the blinds over the front windows as Faith goes into the back office. Vi grimaces as her enhanced hearing picks up Faith’s mutter of ‘unreliable bitch’, and gives a pointed look at her boss as she emerges from the back room with the envelop of money Aura was supposed to have brought to the bank after closing up last night.

“Again?” Vi asks in disbelief.

“Fourth goddamn time this month, you need to tell that bitch to lay off the coke.” 

“Wouldn’t that normally be your job?”

“I’m hormonal, and I already dislike her. I want to avoid bloodshed.”

“Since when? You and Serena seemed to enjoy your little brawl last weekend.”

“There’s a time and place for everything, and I’m tired of paying for damages here.”

“Point.” Vi concedes. “So what do you want me to tell Aura?”

“She’s on probation, she misses work or fucks up like this again, she’s fired. I don’t care if she’s clan. I can’t have people here I can’t trust, and we can’t afford for another B&E like back in March.” Faith says, and Vi gives a quick nod. “Sorry for dumping on you like that. My first appointment isn’t for another half hour, I’m gonna check the news.”

“I’ll let you know if someone comes in.” Vi says, and starts tidying up the front lobby as Faith returns to the back room.

 

About twenty minutes after his latest fight with Faith, James turns the bike into the alley next to Madison’s bakery and pulls to a stop. He flips down the kickstand and dismounts the motorcycle, walking further down the alley.

“O’Connor, you here?” he calls out tentatively, keeping his voice low enough to not attract the attention of the Madisons or their patrons.

“Yeah.” Liam answers, dropping down from the low roof a few feet in front of James, who growls defensively and glares at the vampire.

“I hate it when you people pull that shit.” The werewolf complains, frowning further upon hearing the chuckle from O’Connor. “I assume you have a job for me.”

“When I was in Miami I met with your cousin Peter, he had information on one of Walsh’s ranking lieutenants and a generous contributor to Purity.” Liam tells him, getting right down to business. He pulls a manila folder out of his suit and passes it to James. “His name is Warren Meers. He’s been tied to several murders, involving both of our peoples.” Liam lapses into silence as James flips open the folder and begins scanning its contents.

“New Jersey?” James looks up from the file. “When do you need this done?”

“I need you to leave tonight at the latest. Meers is checked in at the hotel for three more days, after that we may not get another shot at him.”

“It’s the Blood Moon tomorrow. I can’t just take off.” 

“That’s another thing I wanted to talk to you about.” Liam says gravely. “Purity took out one of my childes here in the city last night. Until they are taken care of, I am placing us all on lockdown. If you or any of yours want to celebrate Blood Moon au natural, do it out of sight at the compound.”

“That’s harsh man.”

“Harsh, yes and I do apologize. But also necessary, we need to keep our secret and the Hub is going to be under the scrutiny of Purity. I don’t want to lose any more of my people, do you?”

“I’ll tell the clan.” James says after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. “How much for the job?”

“Forty grand sound good?”

“Throw in a weekend at your Vegas penthouse and we’re square.”

“Why the penthouse?” Liam asks.

“Cause Faith is already pissed at me and I’m most likely gonna miss the Blood Moon doing work for you. And don’t think for one moment that she isn’t going to be just as pissed at you when she finds out.”

“Say no more, I’ll fly you both out the week of Labor Day and either Cassie or Gunn will bring the money by the compound this afternoon.”

“I appreciate it. I’m gonna get out of here, get some supplies together. As always it’s been a pleasure.” James says, turning and walking back to his motorcycle as Liam makes his own escape. Before he gets on, he pulls his cell phone out and flips it open. “Daniel Osbourne.” He says at the prompt.

[i] ‘Dialing… Daniel Osbourne.’ [/i] the phone’s mechanized voice announces, and then starts to ring.

“Hey boss.” Oz’s tired voice says on the other end.

“Late night?” James asks, glancing at his watch that reads 10:07 am.

“Yeah, a couple of the Raven Heart Clan came into Purgatory around midnight, started causing problems. I guess a couple of theirs got clipped by Purity and they were looking to let off some steam.”

“I’ll call Darius, have him tell his boys to back off.” James tells the guitarist/bouncer. “You gonna be busy the next two days?”

“No, why?”

“Liam has a job, and I’ll cut you in for seven grand if you feel like heading down to Jersey tonight.”

“But the Blood Moon-”

“Blood Moon is as good as cancelled. O’Connor issued a lockdown order since he thinks Purity has come to the Hub, so the party will have to be in the compound this year. Besides, I’m hoping to be back here before midnight tomorrow.”

“Shit.” Oz curses. “Well then, yeah man, I’ll go.”

“Good. Call Xan, and ask him too. I gotta go, I need to get a few things, and talk to Faith.”

“Good luck with that, not gonna say I envy you at this point. See you tonight.” Oz hangs up and James stores his phone back in his pocket. Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he takes quick account of his surroundings and shrugs off the sudden feeling of unease before revving the motor and backing out of the alley. He navigates expertly onto the street and peels out, speeding back toward South Boston.

 

Jimmy opens the passenger door of William’s black unmarked civic and gets in, giving a short nod of greeting towards his partner and grabbing up the pro-offered cup of coffee.

“Hazelnut?” Jimmy questions hopefully as he flips open the plastic lid and William drives away from the curb.

“Jim, we’ve been partners for three years, I know your goddamn coffee.” William gibes. “Harmony worked at a gentleman’s club called Scarlet Rain. It’s in the penthouse of the WilkinsCorp Building.”

“Were the two of you close or something?” Jimmy asks.

“Not in the way you’re thinking. She’s just been a friend for a good long while.” William replies.  
“You don’t have any ideas on who might have murdered her, I mean from knowing her before hand if you saw anything.”

“Nothing that would raise any alarms, but then again I haven’t seen her in about three months, different schedules.” William shrugs. “Only person I would have suspected off the bat would have been her ex-boyfriend.”

“Jail?”

“Nah, he got shot by one of his cohorts during a liqueur store robbery, 'bout eight months ago or so. I guess the others didn’t want to share.”

“He beat her?” Jimmy asks, and William gives an uncomfortable nod. Indeed, Billy Blim had been a nuisance to both Liam’s Hub Tribe and the Blood Clover Clan, and had been dealt with accordingly, not that Jimmy would ever know about that.

“He did a lot of things.” William says vaguely, and the two homicide detectives lapse into silence for the duration of the ride, which ends about twelve minutes later with William’s announcement of, “We’re here.”

The two men get out of the car and walk into the large high rise building where Scarlet Rain is located and quickly make their way to the elevator bank. Getting on, William presses the button for the penthouse floor.

“Just how upper class is this club?”

“It’s not so much upper class, but they are very exclusive.”

“So how do you know about them then?”

“I’m special.”

“So where’s your helmet?” 

“I left it at your mother’s house.”

Jimmy holds his hand to his heart and stumbles back with dramatic flair. “Aw damn Billy, you done cut me deep.” He says in a southern accent, and both men chuckle.

The elevator dings a few moments later announcing their arrival on the penthouse floor. The doors slide open and they walk out into a gothic themed entry room. A red haired woman sees them as they come in and walks over with a sad smile on her face.

“William, so nice to see you.” The woman greets warmly, pulling the blond detective into a firm embrace and whispering into his ear. “I wish it were under better circumstances, I assume this is about Harmony.”

“Yes.” He whispers back, low enough for Jimmy to not pick up on it. “I’m sorry ahead of time if Jim says anything, he isn’t aware.” Willow nods and pulls away from William and both turn to see Jimmy looking at them quizzically.

“Willow, this is my partner Jimmy Halloran. Jim, this is Willow Rosenberg, the manager of this place and an old friend.” William introduces them, trying to not put too much emphasis on the word ‘old’. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.” Jimmy intones, and Willow smiles warmly at him.

“Likewise, any friend of Spike’s is a friend of mine. Welcome to Scarlet Rain.” Willow tells him. 

“The place looks magnificent.” Jimmy says before turning to William. “Spike?” he questions and William shoots a brief glare at Willow.

“Old joke.” William explains quickly. “I used to be in a punk band.” He omitted telling him that it had been 1983 when he had been in that band. He turns back to Willow, a stern expression on his face. “What time did Harmony leave Thursday night?”

“I’m not sure of the exact time, but it was between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Cassie drove her to her apartment.”

“Who’s Cassie, and where is she?” Jimmy asks, flipping open a notepad and holding out a pen.

“Cassie’s one of the dancers here.” Willow explains. “As to where she is, I’d imagine that’d be home, sleeping.”

“At eleven in the morning?” Jimmy asks almost incredulously.

“We’re a night business Mr. Halloran.” Willow replies. “I don’t make it a habit to pry into the off hour lives of my employees. Cassie had the midnight to five shift, and if William hadn’t asked me to answer a few questions for you, I’d be sleeping too.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I won’t take up to much more of your time.” Jimmy apologizes. “Do you know of anyone who would want Ms. Kendall dead?”

“Harmony had a unique way about her, she was a bit of an acquired taste if you will, but I can’t think of anyone who would have reason to kill her, I’m sorry.”

“That’s quite alright.” Jimmy assures her. “If you remember anything, please call us.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Willow says, and Jimmy and William take the opportunity to leave, William throwing an apologetic look at Willow as they go. Willow has a troubled look on her face that only he sees.

 

James pulls his van up to the ‘frat’ house owned by Xander, Oz, and Jesse and watches as the former two come out of the front door and down to where he’s parked.

“You got your pieces?” he asks as Oz gets into the passenger seat and Xander slouches onto the couch in the back. Oz flashes his Colt, and Xander waves his Beretta in the air. “Good, you’re going to need them.”

“Who’s the target?” Oz asks as James pulls away and drives towards the interstate.

“Warren Meers, he’s a contributing member of Purity.” James tells them, pulling the file Liam had given him off the floor next to his seat and handing it to Oz, who begins to skim through it. “I wanted to waited until after the Blood Moon, but Liam says he’ll only be at the hotel for another couple of days, and then we’ll lose our shot.”

“So what is King Liam giving you that you’re willing to face the wrath of Faith by missing a sacred holiday?” Xander asks from the back.

“A week in Vegas at his penthouse for me and Faith.”

“Damn.” Xander curses. “I need to get him to give me a pay raise.”

“And I have no plans to miss Blood Moon, I’m hoping that this will be an in and out job, and we can be back by sundown tomorrow night.”

“This guy seems pretty clean, no arrests. I think he’s just a peripheral player for Purity, so odds are minimal to zero security. We do this right, and fast and you might just be able to escape Faith’s ire after all.” Oz remarks, closing the file and handing it back to Xander.

“Let’s all pray.” Xander quips, then goes quiet as he reads the dossier on Warren. A few minutes pass with nothing but silence in the van, and then he finally speaks again. “Hey do we have any weed in here?”

“Check the cushions.” James says as he and Oz share a look, and a moment later Xander lets out a whoop of glee.

“What do you know, it’s half a blunt.” 

“Faith left it in here after the trip up to Maine two weeks ago.” James replies. “I have a quarter ounce in my duffel, but I’m saving it for Blood Moon so stay the hell out of my shit.”

“Jesus man, when have I ever fucked with your stuff?” Xander complains indignantly.

“How about when you ‘borrowed’ the Ducati I got for the Quentin Travers job and crashed it into the side of the Sullivan’s house?” James asks.

“I was really drunk.” Xander defends.

“Or the time that you stole two boxes of condoms out of my closet.”

“I paid for those.” 

“What about that time you put green dye in his and Faith’s shampoo?” Oz asks, a wide smirk on his face.

“It was St. Paddy’s and that was damn funny.”

“It really wasn’t.” James growls, glaring at Xander through the rearview mirror but he remains unfazed. 

“It was a little funny.” Oz says, getting a glare of his own from James. He holds his pointer and thumb a couple inches apart. “Just a little bit.”

James just grunts in response.

 

“Faith?” Vi questions, poking her head into the ‘office’ of her aforementioned boss and best-friend and finding her snoozing on the beaten leather couch. Grinning to herself, Vi closes the door and locks it before shifting into her wolf form and padding over to the couch and letting out a loud bark that wakes Faith and causes her to jump off the couch. Faith yelps as she hits the floor in a tangle of limbs, and wolf-Vi falls onto its side yipping frantically. The yips turn to giggles as Vi reverts to human and remains on her side laughing hysterically.

“Laugh it up red, you’ll get your come-uppance.” Faith growls, but Vi isn’t intimidated in the slightest as she keeps laughing. Faith rolls her eyes and stands up, and Vi quickly snaps out of her fooling around.

“Dawn McHale is here for her one o’clock appointment.” The younger moonchild announces, as she straightens her clothes as best she can for how worn out they are. “She says she needs to talk to you in private.”

“Alright, send her back here.” Faith says with a smile once more on her face. She might not care for the vampires all that much, but Dawn had a way about her that endeared all who met her to the statuesque brunette vampiress, and on that front even Faith, the alpha bitch of the Blood Clover Clan, was no different from anyone else. Vi gives a quick nod and vacates the back room, returning a few moments later with the vampire in question.

“Faith, always a pleasure.” Dawn greets as she floats in with grace, her curse of clumsiness from when she was still a human were all but forgotten. She moves swiftly across the room, wrapping the moonchild in a firm hug. “I hope you’ve been well.”

“As I with you Dawn.” Faith says as the two women pull apart. “How was Los Angeles?”

“Hot and smelly.” Dawn bitches good naturedly. “I don’t care to know what Ashton Kutcher does behind closed doors but it reeks. It was worse than the smell that was there after we shot up Jermaine Trick.”

“He pissed himself.” Faith recalls, thinking of the Providence vampire that had killed two of her clan mates, Tommy and Diana, and at least three of Dawn’s vampire friends.

“Well it was like that, only more aged.”

“Is Ashton Kutcher one of yours?” Faith asks, barely containing her laughter, and Dawn gets a heavily offended look on her face.

“As if any of us would stoop so low as to turn him, I think final death would be a blessing. We do have Harvey Keitel, Steve Bushemi, Denis Leary, Emilie de Ravin and Abe Vigoda though.”

“So that’s why that old bastard won’t die.” Faith comments. “Yeah, so what did you need to talk about?” 

“Liam has ordered a lockdown, for all of us. Anyone who wants to spend the Blood Moon as a wolf has to do it on the compound and out of sight.” Dawn says, looking apologetic. “Sorry to be the one to tell you.”

“He sent James out of state for a hit, didn’t he?” Faith questions and Dawn nods uncomfortably after a moment. “Son of a-”

“Liam sends his apologies, and this.” Dawn sends, passing over an envelope of money that she has removed from the inner pocket of her leather jacket. “There’s forty grand there. If it makes you feel any better, I heard from Giles that the guy Liam sent James after was affiliated with those Purity assholes.”

“It does a bit actually.” Faith decides. “At least he’s making the world a safer place for our people.”

She shrugs off the anger that had come rushing back from the fight with James earlier and remembers that he promised her to be there for Blood Moon. He might not always be there when she needed him to be, but he had never once broken a promise. If he said he’d be there, she’d have to believe that he’d be there. She turns back to face Dawn.

“I’m good.” She reassures the wary vampire. “What did you want to have done?”

“I found a Celtic knot design online that I liked.” Dawn says, pulling a piece of paper out of her right pants pocket and unfolding it before showing it to Faith. The moonchild studies the image on the paper for a few seconds before speaking again.

“I can get this done in about an hour and a half.” Faith estimates.

“How much is it gonna set me back?”

“Come on Dawnie, you know you have the friends and family discount here.” Faith says. “Sides with the forty grand in the packet, I shouldn’t even be taking any of your money.”

“The forty grand comes from Liam. I pay from my own wallet for services rendered.” Dawn argues.

“Alright then, fifty dollars.” The moonchild takes the three twenties thrust at her in a flash, then leads the way up front where the tattoo chairs are located. Vi waves at her from where she’s working on Jesse, and Faith waves back, then nods in the direction of Nina, who is sitting behind the counter that the cash register resided on. The blonde artist regards her briefly before she goes back to working on a new tattoo design. Faith looks to Dawn and motions to the tattoo chair they’ve stopped in front of.

“Take a seat and we’ll get started.” Faith says, then as Dawn sits she’s distracted by the bell signifying someone entering the Tainted Ink. She looks over in time to see Aura stroll through the door and across the checkered floor left from when the leased space used to house a pizza place. The woman pales upon seeing the angry look on Faith’s face that forms when the two lock eyes. Dawn raises a curious eye as she glances between the two, the corner of her lip curled up slightly as she gets a thrill from the thought of the possibly unfolding fight for dominance, and she wondered not for the first time what it would have been like if she herself had become a wolf instead of a vampire.

“So what time was it exactly when you dropped the money off at the bank last night Aura?” Faith asks with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Faith, I’m sorry I-” Aura starts but Faith waves her hand to cut her off.

“I’m not interested in the why or how, if it happens again, you’re fired.” Faith says in a near growl. “If I catch you hopped up on coke while working, you’re fired. If you’re more than ten minutes late without a damn good excuse, you’re fired. If you’re… you know what, just go home.”

“Am I fired?” Aura questions, sounding insolent. Faith’s glare hardens further, and Aura holds up her hands in submission. “Fine, fine. I’m going,”

“Bad time?” Dawn cheeks once Aura flounces out of the tattoo shop. Faith fixes her with a look, and receives a wide smirk in reply.

“You keep it up, I’ll make the tattooing extra painful.”

“Promises, promises.” Dawn mutters. 

Faith pushes Dawn back and she falls onto the chair, letting off a surprised ‘oomph’ as her back and ass make contact with the metallic surface.

“That wasn’t very nice.” Dawn chastises halfheartedly, and Faith just chuckles.

“Yeah well, I’m a bitch. Just ask Aura.”

 

Dr. Margaret ‘Maggie’ Walsh, the de-facto leader of the FBI described ‘cult’ Purity, stood on the slight rise where the fireplace was inlaid against the wall. She looked around the room, taking in the faces of seven of her twelve lieutenants as they all looked back at her almost with irreverence in their eyes. 

“I want to thank you all for coming tonight.” Maggie addresses her guests. “In the last week we have made significant progress in the war against the unnatural ones, with our strikes against them in Framingham, Springfield, Amherst and Worcester. I would like to commend you all for all your hard work and effort that have brought us to where we stand now.”

Maggie pauses for a moment, picking up the glass of wine she had poured minutes earlier and takes a pull.

“None of that matters now.” She says. “All of those victories, grand as they seemed, are nothing compared to what has been waiting for us here in Boston. The king, the Don Corleone of vampires if you will, and he has people everywhere. They’re going to be watching for us, so for your safety you should know them too. Please follow me.”

Maggie steps off the platform and strides across the room, her lieutenants falling into step behind her and she leads the way out of the living room and into the office on the opposite side of the hall. She stops in front of a large corkwood message board covered in photos and post-its.

“These are the faces of your enemies here in Boston. Get to know them well, because they will soon know ours.” Maggie stands back as the six begin to look over the board.  
Pictures of Willow, Dawn, Faith, Vi, Giles, Oz, Gunn, Serena, Jesse, Harmony, and one taken of James and Liam meeting in the alley by Madison’s Bakery are visible on the board, and a maniacal grin is planted on Maggie’s face now. 

“Ma’am, I’m not sure I quite understand.” One of her lieutenants, Graham Miller, says after a few moments. “Some of these people are known and feared mafiosos, I’m not to sure that I want to get tangled up with them.”

“That is the disguise they hide behind. They may look human, but they’re not, and they will murder every last one of us who are. Don’t lose any sleep over killing them, they are nothing but a spit in the eye of everything that humanity stands for.” Maggie says, “And as they are gangsters, think of it as doing the world a favor. How many people’s lives would be safer with these monsters off the streets?”

Graham doesn’t have a reply for that, but still has a troubled look on his face as he turns back to look over the wall of ‘supernaturals’, and his eyes fall on an image of James and Liam from earlier in the alley.

 

Liam, meanwhile was at the casino, wandering the floors of the main room and making some ‘face time’ with the guests. He was in the midst of a conversation with one of his high rollers, a self made millionaire by the name of David Nabbit, when he caught a flash of unmistakable blonde hair as Elizabeth walked past a gap in the row of slot machines. Liam quickly makes up an excuse for the other man and escapes, making his way up the aisle swiftly, hoping to catch up with the girl in question.

As if the universe was once more having a big laugh at his expense, he suddenly found himself frantically reaching out to grasp Elizabeth by the wrists to keep her from falling onto the floor.

“I’m terribly sorry Miss.” Liam says repentantly. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I, hey aren’t you Rupert Giles’ new assistant?”

“I somehow think you already know the answer to that Mr. O’Connor.” Elizabeth snarks playfully as she regains her footing. Liam looks at her with eyes full of faux innocence, but he cracks under her expectant gaze.

“Okay, busted.” Liam replies. “I don’t mean to cause you any alarm but I had been hoping after we met this morning to ask if you would care to accompany me to dinner some night?”

“Wow, I’d kind of forgotten how forward people in Boston tend to be.” Elizabeth comments, “I don’t know, I just came home and I’m not sure I want to get involved with anyone at the moment.”

“That didn’t quite sound like a no.”

“I’ll think about it.” 

“That’s all I ask.” Liam says, letting the matter drop for the time being. “So where were you heading when we ran into eachother.”

“I think it was you who did the running pal.” Elizabeth regards him with mirth dancing behind her eyes.

“Touche.” Liam quips, “But seriously, this place is often overwhelming on the first day.”

“I was asked to bring some paperwork to a Mr. Gunn, and I think maybe I did get a little lost.”

“Well as Charles’ office is on the other end of the building, I’d be inclined to agree with you.” Liam informs Elizabeth, who shrugs helplessly.

“Ooops.” She offers weakly.

“Would you like me to escort you to Mr. Gunn’s office?”

“You don’t need to, I’m sure you have to be fairly busy with things.” Elizabeth says, 

“Nonsense, I just own the place. I leave the management completely up to Mr. Giles.” Liam waves off her concerns. “I was just putting in some face time with some of our more ‘charitable’ summer guests, and you’d be saving me from having to listen to yet another story about how Mr. Mercer’s law firm is being considered for a partnership with Wolfram and Hart, or how poor Mr. Crowley lost his bid war for Genatech to some trust fund brat from Silicon Valley. Honestly you’d be saving me from unmentionable torture.”

Elizabeth laughs at the grim look in Liam’s eyes, and he gives her a haunted stare.

“Sure laugh it up now, you’ll be singing a different tune when Ms. Post returns from the Hamptons.” Liam intones quietly. “That woman is hell in high heels, ask your boss.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Elizabeth says as she contains her laughter. “Well if it’s so horrible to mingle with your summer patrons, I guess it’d be helpful for someone who knows the place to show me to where I need to go.”

“Only to happy to oblige.” Liam says, holding his arm out and after a moment Elizabeth links hers in and he leads her across the floor in the correct direction of Gunn’s office in the north wing of the casino.

 

Jimmy hummed an old Irish ballad to himself as he descended the stairwell that led down to the morgue of precinct 17. He quickly makes his way down the hallway and into the body storage room, seeing Harmony’s covered body laid out on one of the metal examination tables in the center of the storage room. He quickly strides over to the table, removing a hacksaw blade out of the manila envelope in his hand and pulling the sheet covering Harmony back a bit to reveal her head and upper torso.

Reaching down he held the hacksaw blade against the torn flesh of the dancer’s neck and frowns as he realizes that the markings do not match up. He lets out a discouraged sigh and returns the blade to the envelope and puts it into his pocket. Just as he is about to cover the body once more, he notices a small dab of blood on the crease on the left side of the dead woman’s mouth and reaches out to wipe it off.

His finger brushes against her teeth lightly and he lets out a curse as he feels his own flesh sliced open like a paper cut and pulls his hand away from her face swiftly. Upon close examination he finds that his pointer finger has been sliced as if with a finely sharpened razorblade.

“What in the hell?” He questions aloud to no one in particular, and regards the woman once more. He tentatively reaches down, and lifts her upper lip to reveal her teeth. Two fangs are clearly visible on both the top and bottom teeth and Jimmy backs away from her like she’s the plague. A moment later the homicide detective hears two people, a man and a woman talking as they come down the hallway, their voices getting louder as they draw closer. Thinking quickly, Jimmy ducks into the utility closet and closes the door all but a crack just as Wesley Windham-Pryce and Tara MaClay, two of the crime lab personnel for the 17th enter the room and approach Harmony’s body.

“Did Liam say how he wanted this done?” Tara asks, and Wesley shakes his head.

“He was vague on the method to be used, just that it was to be done.” Wesley replies, re-covering Harmony’s upper body. “William called him an hour ago, he’s worried his partner Jimmy is getting too close to the truth. The presence of Harmony’s body puts us all at risk, so it needs to be destroyed.”

Tara nods to indicate her understanding. “We’ll just bring her down to the crematorium, and Penn can take care of the rest of it.”

“Just another victim lost in transit.” Wesley notes, his tone sad. He unlocks the wheels on the bottom of the table and pushes it out of the body storage room, Tara shadowing after him.

Jimmy remains in the utility closet for a few more moments, as he tries to wrap his head around the events of the past several minutes. None of it made any sense to him, but he honestly doubted any sane person wouldn’t be just as confused as he. There was something strange happening here, and his partner of three years and one of his closest friends in the world was involved.  
Who was Liam?

Why did Harmony Kendall have fangs?

What truth was William afraid he was getting to close to, and how many others were involved? 

All these questions and more raced through Jimmy’s mind, and he had answers for none of them.

But he would.

 

“I swear that Wood has it out for us.” Pike complains as he tosses yet another full garbage bag out of the way to look for evidence. “We could be doing more good on the streets looking for those cultist dickheads. Besides, isn’t this more of the crime lab’s job?”

“You think they haven’t already been through here?” JT replies, looking over from where he is searching through an overfull dumpster. “It’s politics man, Mayor Wilkins is looking for a fourth term. He needs to look good, so we as police have to look as if we’re masking a real difference under his guidance. If you think that we have it bad doing this shit, think of the pressure James is gonna be under from Wilkins and King Liam himself.”

“Yeah, I know all that and for once I don’t envy Foley his position.” Pike states honestly. “Moon knows I’d crack under the stress, I’m just looking for a little supernatural solidarity here. We’ve both been on the force for over ten years here, we should be more than just beat cops. Wilkins and Liam both know our worth, we’ve proved it time and again, but still we get stuck picking up the pieces after the vultures have finished.”

“So you’re unhappy then?” JT asks as he drops a bag of diapers out of the dumpster and into the plastic garbage bin next to it.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m unhappy, but I’m definitely complacent.” Pike responds after a moment of thought. “There hasn’t been much action of the sort we appreciate in months.”

“Most people would consider that a positive thing.”

“And I’m not saying it isn’t. I just, ah hell I dunno.” Pike goes quiet for a few moments. “I’m just tired of the meaningless day to day routine.”

“So put in a transfer.” JT suggests. “Homicide and Major Cases are always looking for more manpower.”

“And get stuck behind a desk for days at a time filing reports? Thanks, but I’ll pass.” Pike declines. 

“What about the Repo unit?” JT throws out in humour and Pike fixes him with a disgusted look.

“I’d sooner quit the force than go back to dealing with those savages.” Pike says, holding back a shudder at the thought of the seven month stint he’d done with the Repo unit when he and JT had first joined the SBPD in 1988. That had been a worse hell than the situation he found himself in currently, digging through the garbage looking for the figurative needle in the haystack. “Why are we even wasting our time anyways. If Wesley, Tara and Jonathan couldn’t find anything here, then clearly we won’t.”

“And on that note, you owe me a beer.” JT crows, holding up a leather wallet that he has uncovered under a garbage bag next to the dumpster. “This looks a bit too valuable to just throw out, especially in this part of town.”

“Who’s is it?” Pike asks, as JT vaults himself over the side of the dumpster and lands on the concrete floor of the alley before flipping open the wallet.

“One Malcolm Edwards, formerly of Queens, New York.” JT reads off the identification card. “Born in 1956, he has blue eyes and brown hair, and oh look, he’s a blood donor.”

JT tosses the wallet over to Pike, who pulls out Holtz’ collection of business cards, flipping through them quickly.

“And here’s our smoking gun.” Pike holds out a blue and red card with Margaret Walsh’s name on it. “This mook is with Purity.”

 

Oz was now behind the wheel of James’ van and darkness had fallen. James was snoring lightly on the couch in the back and Xander had taken the passenger seat and was also similarly dead to the world surrounding them. He take notice of the large green ‘Now Entering New Jersey’ sign as he passes and grins as James’ hope to be back home in time for the Blood Moon is restored in his mind. If they were able to eliminate Meers by sunrise, then they could get back to the Hub as early as early afternoon tomorrow, giving them more than enough time to get the job done.

The (currently) blue haired man’s attention was suddenly caught by the sight of the strawberry blonde woman hitchhiking a little further up the road and he began to slow down upon the realization that the woman was a nomadic moonchild. The sudden decrease of speed in the van is enough to wake both James and Xander from their slumber.

“We there yet?” Xander asks with a yawn, stretching himself out as best he can in the seat.

“Nah, I’m picking up a hitchhiker.” Oz says calmly as he pulls up and puts the van into neutral a few yards away from the woman, who flashes a wide grin and after readjusting her backpack a bit walks over to the van.

“What the hell Oz? We have a job to do.” James demands from the couch in back.

“Relax boss. She’s a moonchild.” Oz pacifies. 

“Fine, but I don’t want her to get in the way, so she’s gone before we hit Jersey.”

“We’re in Jersey.” Oz says as the woman pulls open the side door to the van and hops in.

“Thanks so much for picking me up, I’ve been trying to flag down a ride for the last half hour.” The woman says. “I’m Veruca.”

“James Foley.” James introduces himself. “The blue haired guy driving is Oz, and the slouch in the passenger seat is Xander.”

“Hey!” Xander exclaims in indignation as Oz puts the van back into drive and pulls back onto the highway. “I resent that.”

“The world resents you, so deal.” Oz snipes at his best friend, who pouts. Veruca laughs at their antics, and James simply rolls his eyes. “So what is a lovely wolf such as you doing in Jersey?”

“Oh, I’m heading down to Philadelphia for the Blood Moon.” Veruca replies. “My sister went last year, said it was better than Mardi Gras.”

“Never been to Philly during the holidays, but if it’s better than Mardi Gras, I’ll have to make a trip of it one of these years.” Xander acknowledges.

“Well you’re welcome to join me if you want to, no one else I know is going to be there.” Veruca offers, but James shakes his head before either of the other two can speak.

“As tempting as that is, we’ll have to decline.” He says, leaving no room for debate. “We have some business to attend to at the Marriott in Elizabeth, then we have to haul ass back to Boston. Sorry.”

“Oh.” Veruca sounds slightly disappointed but shrugs it off. “That’s fine, if you could drop me off at the hotel, I can walk to the bus station from there.”

“It isn’t anything personal.” Oz assures her. “James’ here’s girl has his nutsack in a vice.” 

Oz lets out a grunt of pain upon the collision of the discarded lighter James throws with the back of his head. Veruca shakes her head, giggling silently, and drops into the recliner opposite the couch. James picks a motorcycling magazine up off the floor and begins flipping through it, and the now wide awake Xander begins adjusting the radio tuner, trying to find a classic rock station. The attention now off her, Veruca has a slightly worried look in her eyes as the van drives further down the highway..

 

Giles lets out a sigh of relief as he hangs up the phone, glad to have finally selected a suitable candidate for the position of day manager of the hotel and casino. With the presence of Purity on the Hub, he had a feeling he was going to be more than exhausted just serving as the night manager. He shakes out of his thoughts and powers down his laptop, then moving to the door, opening a pathway into his assistant’s office, and is greeted by the sight of the assistant in question deep in conversation with his lover of the past eighty seven years.

“Jennifer, it seems you grow lovelier each time you return to grace my presence.” Giles says in greeting, snapping the two women out of their conversation. 

“Flatterer.” Jenny says with a wide smile.

“Elizabeth, what are you still doing here? Your shift ended almost an hour ago.” He asks next.

“I know, I was just finishing up filing the profit reports from July, and Ms. Calender came in. We got to talking and must have lost track of time.” Elizabeth says, grabbing her laptop case off her desk and starting for the door. “Well, enjoy your evening.”

“You, as well. It was a pleasure to meet you, we should do it again soon.” Jenny says and receives an eager nod from the blonde before she walks out. Jenny turns to Giles a moment later. “I like her, she’s smart.”

“Yes, indeed she is.” Giles agrees.

“So when are you going to turn her then?” Jenny asks teasingly, and laughs at the comical widening of Giles’ eyes. “Jesus Rupert, you’re just as easy as you were when we met during Prohibition.”

“You are going to be my death woman.” Giles says, fixing his lover with a faux glare.

“Well I’m sure you’ll die a happy vampire then.” Jenny sasses. “But we’ll have time for that later. I have a request I was hoping you could pass to Liam for me.”

“And that is?”

“I think someone is planning on burglarizing my store on Newbury, a couple of the vampires that work the night shift have reported that a black van has been seen parked in different spots near my property.” Jenny explains. “I was hoping that Liam could have a couple of his crew pull a stake out, see if they can catch the little shits in the act.”

“I’ll pass on the request.” Giles promises. “I wouldn’t worry to much either way though, if its just thieves I’m sure any of the men you have working the night shift can handle a couple of humans.”

“And if it’s the wolves?” Jenny asks, a frown tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“The wolves aren’t gonna risk getting kicked off the Hub for a bookstore robbery.” Giles dismisses the notion immediately. “Liam has them on a tight leash by way of James Foley anyways.”

“Well regardless of who it is that’s been casing my store the past couple nights, it’ll be a cold day in hell when Jennifer Calender lets some miscreant thief take advantage of her.”

“I’ll ask Liam to have someone look into it.” Giles tells her and she nods gratefully.

“I appreciate it Rupert.” Jenny says warmly. “But about what I said earlier about your new assistant, I was only half joking.”

“Jenny, I don’t know what you’re planning, but you should know that Liam has ordered a lockdown. Until Purity is dealt with, he’s not allowing any new members, the wolves have been told the same.”

“Well, that will keep her human for the time being.” Jenny notes. “But when the lockdown is lifted, a woman with beauty and intelligence like she has will entice [i] someone [/i] into siring her. Better it be one of us rather an enemy of the tribe or some nomad. I’d hate to see her lost to us.”

“This is neither the time nor place for this discussion.” Giles says. “It’s bad enough that Liam is already sniffing after the young Ms. Summers, I don’t want to think about it.”

“Liam has taken a fancy to her?” Jenny asks, sounding overjoyed at the notion. “She would make a suitable queen wouldn’t she?”

“I hadn’t given that much thought, or any actually.” Giles says, pulling his glasses off and cleaning them with a handkerchief. “Elizabeth has no knowledge of our world, let alone a desire to become one of us.”

“Alright, I get it.” Jenny ceases her teasing of the older vampire, and a sultry look comes over her face. “So are you finished for the night then?”

“Yeah, I just finished up before I came out here.” Giles says. “I don’t think Liam needed anything else from me tonight so…”

“I was gonna head over to Scarlet Rain.” Jenny says, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Willow and I was hoping to catch up. You’re more than welcome to join, the night is young after all.”

“I am, as the humans say these day, so in.” Giles says, with a hearty chuckle before clasping hands with the former Gypsy and allows her to lead him from his office, flipping the lights off and pulling the door shut as they walk out.

 

Dawn shrugs out of her leather jacket as she enters the smoke filled pub in the south wing of the Black Rose, and folds it over her arm as she moves further into the dimly lit barroom. She walks over to the stairwell that led up to the restricted balcony section and begins up the stairs, passing by Rondell Waters, one of the members of Charles Gunn’s crew who is guarding the entrance as she goes. He gives her a quick nod of greeting which she returns before moving on to the private room that overlooked both the pub and the lounge on the opposite side. She strolls in, catching sight of Liam at the table in the middle of the room. Gunn, Wesley and David Penn are also seated around the small table, taking count of the money that is spread out over the polished wooden surface. Cordelia Chase is sitting at the mini bar and filing out paperwork.

“Willow called, said you were looking for me.” Dawn says, looking directly at Liam, who gives a quick nod and motions for her to follow him out to the balcony overlooking the pub. She does so, draping her jacket over the armrest of the couch next to the exit and closes the sliding door behind them, before turning back to face the godfather of Boston.

“Is that a new tattoo?” he asks, catching sight of her bare upper arm and admiring the artwork.

“Yeah, I went by Tainted earlier this afternoon.” Dawn replies, taking a seat at the table pushed up against the metal barred railing at the edge of the balcony and Liam drops into the seat next to her. “Faith does good work, no?”

“I’ll have to make an appointment.” Liam agrees. “I have a couple that could use a touch-up. How did Faith take the news of the lock-down?”

“Better than the last time, although I think the forty grand may have helped ease her into the idea.” Dawn answers, glancing out over the crowd below, her eyes falling on Nina Ash behind the bar and when the woman looks up in her direction she gives a short wave which is reciprocated by the blond moonchild. “She isn’t happy with all the out of state ‘errands’ you send Foley and his crew on.”

“The ‘errands’ are necessary.” Liam says insistently.

“I know that they are, and so does she, but that doesn’t make it any easier.” Dawn responds, somewhat crossly. “Look, we’ve both known Faith since she came to the hub seven years ago. She’s all about the action, if you gave her a more active role in our business it might serve to diffuse her anger at James’ frequent ‘business trips’.

Liam looks thoughtful for a few moments, and when it gets to the point that he is on the brink of broodiness, she speaks once more.

“Look, I’m not saying to send her out on high profile hits. Let her help with kicking Purity’s collective asses off the Hub, maybe a rogue vampire here or there, just give her something to do.”

“You seem to take a significant interest in the dissatisfaction of moonchild Lehane.” Liam notes wryly. “I’m not going to have an uprising from the wolves to deal with on top of the threat from Purity am I?”

“No. Faith is nothing if not loyal, she won’t start a war.” Dawn assures the godfather. “But if things continue the way they have been of late, then I can’t guarantee that she won’t try and convince James to leave the Hub and your employ.”

“That would be a right shame.” Liam concurs. “Fine, I’ll have her deal with Malcolm Edwards. He’s the one we believe to have killed Harmony, and it’s been confirmed that he’s a member of Walsh’s group.”

“Let me get the details and I’ll email them to her.” Dawn tells him, before turning to watch as a blonde woman comes onto the band stage and starts to sing a cover of ‘Have you ever seen the rain’ as Dawn listens raptly for a moment. “She’s got talent.”

“The other reason that I wanted to see you.” Liam says, turning to look at the singer as well. “That’s Erica Summers, her sister Elizabeth just started as Rupert’s assistant.”

“Let me guess, you want me to give her a gig over at the lounge.” Dawn guesses, her eyes not leaving Erica.

“That’s about the gist of it.”

“The things I do to facilitate your getting laid..” Dawn mutters imperiously. “Yeah, fine. I can see a rise in profits there with her performing during the evening hours.”

“It isn’t quite that way, but I appreciate it.” Liam says, glancing over at Dawn for a moment before returning his attention to Erica, who has just started into Joan Jett’s ‘Crimson and Clover’.

 

A few minutes later Liam and Dawn re-enter the room, Liam returns to the money table and Dawn wanders over to the mini bar. She pulls a bottle of Killian’s Irish Lager out of the fridge and plops down on the stool to the right of Cordelia.

“What are you working on?” she asks, popping the cap off the bottleneck and taking a deep pull of the lager.

“Giles is looking to hire a night manager, so he’ll have more time for other obligations.” Cordy replies, looking up from the stack of résumés on the bar in front of her. “I’ve been tasked to weed out the ‘undesirables’.”

“Sounds tedious.” Dawn comments, glancing over the scattered papers. “Hey isn’t that the guy who used to work for Lindsey out in Vegas?”

Without waiting for an answer she reaches out and grabs the resume of one Dante Baldwin, the former manager of the Swan, a casino owned by Lindsay MacDonald, the vampire godfather of Sin City, and drops it in front of the other vampiress.

“Give that one to Giles.” Dawn suggests, taking another drink as Cordy looks over the résumé in question and her expression brightens. 

“Dawnie, you’re a life saver.” The former actress exclaims in gratitude. “I’ve been looking through these damn things for almost an hour and I was just about ready to go insane.”

“Anytime Cordy.”

At the money table, Penn has just finished counting out ten thousand worth of hundred dollar bills and puts one of the bands with the Black Rose Casino label around them. It is then clear that the money is being laundered into the casino from the other less than legitimate business ventures.

“What’s the current count?” Liam asks, watching as Penn passes the stack of money over to Gunn who puts it in the large paper bag on the floor next to him.

“Just over a hundred grand.” Gunn replies after a quick check of the bag. “I’m estimating about another thirty on the table, give or take a couple hundred.”

“Excellent.” Liam pulls out four cigars, keeping one for himself and offering the others, but only Wesley takes one. Penn opts for a joint that he pulls out of a baggie that was hidden in his sock, he stands and makes his way over to where Dawn and Cordelia are sitting and offers the joint after taking a couple deep hits, and Cordelia quickly relieves him of it. She inhales deep, then passes it over to Dawn.

Liam watches the three for a moment before grabbing the television remote from where it’s half buried under the money pile and turns on MSNBC.

“Oh, by the way, Holland and Wilkins were looking for you earlier.” Wesley says, pulling the cigar away from his lips. “They said they wanted to talk to you about a construction contract in Chelmsford.”

“Call them back, and tell them we can discuss it here before the party tomorrow night.” Liam says and Wesley gives a short nod. 

“I’ll do it in the morning.”

 

“We’re here.” Oz announces to the three other occupants of the van about forty five minutes later, waking them from slumber once more. He gets out of the van, happy to be standing on solid ground once more and takes in a deep breath of air that doesn’t reek of stale cigarettes and reefer. He comes around to the other side as Xander hops out of the passenger side and onto the pavement, and Veruca slides the back door open to allow both her and James to disembark as well. 

The blonde grabs her backpack off the floor of the van and turns to face the three members of the Blood Clover Clan. “Thanks for the ride, saved me a hell of a walk.” Veruca says in gratitude.

“No problem.” Oz replies. “Good luck getting to Philly. If you ever come up to Boston look us up.”

“I’ll do that.” Veruca promises, casting a final look at the three before walking off in the direction of the bus depot a few blocks away. Oz, James and Xander start for the entrance of the hotel and therefore don’t see Veruca change course and run around the back of the hotel.

James leads the other two werewolves across the lobby and up to the front desk, immediately addressing the on duty clerk.

“I’m agent Smecker with the DEA, these are my associates, agents Greenly and Duffy.” James says, flashing a forged DEA ID in front of the clerk’s face. “We’re looking for a man named Warren Meers, although he may be using an alternate alias, and we have reason to believe he is staying here presently.”

“O-o-of course sir, anything to help.” The clerk stammers, before typing the name into the guest register. “He’s in room 1630.”

“Thank you for your help.” James says, before striding off with Oz and Xander following in his shadow. The three make their way over to the elevator bank and Xander presses the button to go up. A few moments pass before they hear the tell-tale ‘ding’ that signifies the arrival of one of the elevator cars on the ground floor and a few seconds after the polished metal doors slide open and the three wolves get onto the second car from the left.

Oz hits the button for the sixteenth floor and the doors close once more before the three feel the sudden upward jerk as the car begins it’s ascent to the floor their target was staying.

“Just out of curiosity, what’s our cut on this hit?” Xander chimes from the back of the car, and both James and Oz turn to look at him.

“Seven grand.” James replies and Xander lets out an appreciative whistle. “And the satisfaction at taking out a member of Purity.”

The rest of the trip up is spent in silence and when the doors open, James turns to Oz as they step off. “Hold the elevator on this floor, we might need to get out of here quick.”

Oz nods a quick affirmation and remains at the elevator as James and Xander move down the hallway, turning the corner at the end and following the directions on the sign that says rooms 1625-1650 and had a wooden carving of a hand pointing to the left.

Finding the room only required them to walk a few yards down the adjacent hall, and the two stopped in front of the door to 1630, and James gives Xander a brief look, telling him silently to pull out his gun and readying his own before he rears back and kicks open the door.

“DEA! Don’t move!” James yells, dodging a punch from the man he recognized from the file as Warren Meers. James recovers quickly, thrusting his fist into Warren’s stomach, adding only a fraction of his wolf strength but it’s enough to drop the taller man to the ground, wheezing heavily and trying to regain his composure.

Xander, upon realizing that Warren wasn’t going to be any more trouble, stows his gun into the back of his pants and pulls a set of handcuffs out of his jacket.

“Warren Meers, you’re under arrest for contributions to known drug traffickers. You have the right to remain silent, all that fun shit.” Xander intones, as he and James pull Warren’s arms back and cuff him before hauling him to his feet. They step back out into the hall, pulling Warren between them, and pushing past the nosy residents that have come out to see what the commotion was about.

“DEA agents, all of you can return to your rooms. Nothing to see here.” Veruca says, pushing her way through the small crowd, coming up from the opposite end of the hallway that James and Xander had come up and they both give her a questioning look before mirroring her sentiments and reluctantly the other tenants return to their rooms. James and Xander share a quick look before dragging Warren back in the direction of where Oz was waiting at the elevator, Veruca following behind them.

Oz looks equally confused at the re-appearance of Veruca after having just seen her walking away minutes earlier and he casts a look from James to Xander, who simply shrugs in response.

“We’ll figure it out on the way to the Pine Barrens.” James says, pushing a recovering Warren onto the elevator car. Oz waits for Xander and Veruca to enter as well before pressing the button to bring them down to the first floor. There is utter silence as the elevator descends, aside from the incoherent muttering of the handcuffed Warren, who also falls into silence at the severe look from James that has him pressing himself as close to the wall as he can get.

The elevator dings and James passes Warren over to Xander and Oz before leading the way out of the elevator car and across the lobby, Veruca at the back. They make their way back out into the crisp night air and over to the van. James pulls open the back door to the van and Warren is tossed inside roughly, landing with an audible thud and a grunt of pain. James and Veruca get into the back, as Xander opens the passenger door and Oz runs around to the drivers side. A few moments later, Oz starts the engine and pulls back out onto the street, heading towards the city limits in the vague direction of the Pine Barrens.

 

Erica hangs up her cell phone and looks down at the cup of coffee on the table in front of her a gleeful look forming on her face.

“Well don’t you look happier than a pig in shit.” Elizabeth snarks as she takes a seat across from her sister. “Good news?”

“The best.” Erica agrees, happiness shining in her eyes. “Dawn McHale just called me, she’s the entertainment manager at the Casino and said that the owner himself saw me tonight and suggested she offer me a primetime gig in the Fireside Lounge.”

“That’s wonderful, I’m so happy for you Erica.” Elizabeth says, reaching her hand out and clasping her slightly younger twin sister’s with it.

“I’m going to be debuting tomorrow night during a party for the upper management, can you be there?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Elizabeth promises, smiling warmly. Maybe she would take Liam up on his offer after all. 

 

About a half hour after leaving the Marriott, the van once more pulls to a stop, this time in the middle of a well worn path through the thick forests of northern New Jersey. The side door slides open and James more or less punts Warren, who is now free of the handcuffs, out of the vehicle, sending him crashing to the hard ground. James hops out after him and pulls a shovel out from its resting spot against the wall of the van.

Warren, who has clearly been pummeled a bit during the ride from the Marriott, struggles to his feet as Oz, Xander and Veruca all get out of the van as well, all three holding handguns in plain sight.

“Please don’t kill me.” Warren pleads to a stony faced James, who had gotten the true story behind Veruca’s reasons for being in New Jersey. “I can give you money.”

James shakes his head at the sniveling man in front of him, and in a quick flash his hand shoots out with gun in hand and he pistol whips Warren across the side of the face, sending him falling to the ground yet again.

“I don’t want your money, you stupid fuck.” James spits out, throwing the shovel down onto the ground a couple feet from where Warren was cowering on the ground. “You’ve already dug your literal grave Meers, time for a dose of reality. Pick up the shovel and get to work, if I was going to kill you, I’d have done it by now.”

Seeing no other options that promised any chance of survival, Warren reluctantly picks up the shovel and stands to his feet before thrusting the metal part of the shovel into the hard earth and tossing the dirt to the side. Then he repeated the motions, again and again until there was a somewhat sloppy three by six foot hole, going down four feet into the ground. Finished with his task, Warren looks up to where James, Oz, and Xander are watching him from the side of the van.

James stands and walks over to where Warren stands at the head of the grave. He quickly inspects the work and gives a slight nod of approval.

“Well done Warren.” James commends. “That is a really nice hole. Isn’t it Xan?”

“Oh yeah, man.” Xander agrees emphatically, glancing over. Oz nods as well, remaining silent.

“Look, if you’re gonna kill me can you just get it over with?” Warren snaps irritably.

“Oh Warren, I’m not gonna kill you, and neither are they.” James informs him, indicating Oz and Xander. 

“Oh, thank god. I swear that I’ll never contact Meyers or the Connelly brothers again. I’m out of the drug trade.” Warren says with a renewed hope in his voice.

“Wait, you’re really in the drug trade?”

BLAM!

Warren goes rigid for a moment before pitching forward into the grave he dug, and Veruca is revealed to have been standing behind him. Smoke rolls out of the barrel of her Colt as she lowers it and steps forward to look down into the hole. James, Oz and Xander also move to surround the hole.

“He’s not dead.” Xander notes after a moment, as the four look down at Warren’s convulsing body, then he turns to Veruca. “I think you missed the brain.”

“Let’s fix that then.” James intones and all four of the wolves aim their guns into the hole and start firing.

 

Vi growls as she flips her cell phone shut, having been sent to Aura’s voicemail for the fifth time, and stuffs it angrily back into her pants pocket.

“Still no answer?” Serena asks from her seat atop an upturned cinderblock in the corner of the rented space a few lots from Tainted Ink that Crimson Moon used for band practice. An acoustic guitar is laid across her legs and she is fiddling with the knobs.

“It was bad enough Oz had to go down to Jersey with James, but I swear that Faith has a point in having less than zero respect for that girl.” Vi fumes. “She’s completely unreliable, constantly late or making excuses, and she’s most likely high on coke right now. Stupid bitch.”

“Feel better?” Jesse asks, pulling the felt covers back over his drum set.

“Little bit, yeah.” Vi nods. “Let’s just get the hell out of here, it’s obvious Aura isn’t coming.”

Serena hops to her feet, slinging her guitar over her shoulder in one fluid movement, and Jesse walks around to meet the two women on the way to the door. Vi is the last one out and as she emerges she almost runs into Jesse’s back.

“What the hell Jesse?” Vi curses, moving around the taller man to see what Jesse and Serena had already.

Five masked figures, all dressed in black stand only a few feet from the three musicians, blocking the alleyway exit, and all are armed with either steel pipes or baseball bats.

“Wow, aren’t you guys cute.” Vi exclaims. “But wait, isn’t Halloween still a couple months off?”

“Unnatural scum.” The apparent leader of the group snarls out, taking a step forward and swinging his bat at Vi’s head, but she quickly dodges out of the way and after a momentary crouch, and she half dives, half rolls out of the way of a clumsy downswing by the oafish attacker, she drives her right foot into the man’s abdomen and kicking out with her left leg she sends the bat flying from his hand. 

The friends of Vi’s attacker jump into action as well, with Jesse and Serena meeting them in the middle. Jesse throws the smallest of the men into the side of the brick wall and then stumbles from being hit in the back with a bat by another of the five before recovering quickly and punching the man in the face. Serena blocks a metal pipe with her guitar and hears a crack of wood.

Her eyes blazing, she uses the momentum of the pipe’s impact to swing around and smash the guitar across the side of the face of the wielder of the pipe, sending the man crashing to the ground in a heap.

[b] Blam![/b]

“That was a warning shot.” Vi snarls, lowering the gun from where she has it aimed skyward and holds it in the direction of the man she’s been fighting with. “Next one goes in your head if you don’t get the fuck out of here now.”

“This isn’t over bitch.” The man snarls and she gives him a smirk.

“It really is.” Vi says, and the four still conscious attackers stumble out of the alley, glancing back every few feet, but the three wolves stand tall and soon they hear the rumble of an engine starting and an old Subaru speeds by a moment later. “Never bring a baseball bat to a gun fight assholes.” She mutters under her breath and then turns to see a extremely anxious looking Serena and Jesse standing over the fallen fifth attacker that Serena had smashed with her guitar. Vi moves over and stands with them.

“Get up asshole, the fight’s done so you can go now.” Vi says, nudging the fallen man in the side with the tip of her combat boot. She looks back up at Jesse and Serena for a moment, the latter looking almost in tears. She crouches onto her knees and reaches a shaky hand to the man’s neck. Feeling no pulse, she lets herself fall back onto the ground.

“Fuck.” She curses aloud, pulling herself to her feet. “There’s no pulse, he’s dead.”

Serena lets out a strangled sob and half falls into Jesse’s arms. “I didn’t mean to..”

Vi quickly moves over to Serena and takes the younger woman’s face in her hands. 

“Serena, listen to me. We both know you didn’t mean to, and no one is going to find out either. I’m gonna take care of this.” The redhead promises, and after a moment, Serena nods and Vi looks at Jesse. “Get her out of here, back to our apartment and stay with her. I might not get back until late.”

Jesse nods and leads the distraught Serena down and out of the alleyway, Vi watches until they are out of sight then pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, noting the two missed calls from Aura and scrolls down her contact list before clicking on a name.

The phone rings a few times before Vi hears the click indicating that the other end has been picked up.

“Hey it’s me.” She says into the phone. “Listen, I’ve found myself in a bit of trouble, and I could use your help.”

 

“We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this update in the Harmony Kendall murder case, the Greater Boston police department is searching for this man, Malcolm Edwards, in connection to this grisly homicide. If you have any information on Edwards, call the authorities. Edwards is considered possibly armed and very dangerous, so the police are advising to not take action on Edwards but to alert them. This is Cassandra Newton coming to you live on five, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled program.”

Liam presses the off button on the remote control, and the television in the corner goes black.

“Well done.” Dawn commends, pulling her cell phone out. “You managed to paint him as if he was the next OJ, and now the public will cheer his demise.”

“Indeed, make the call to Faith and tell her to finish this.” Liam instructs and Dawn quickly complies, dialing the moonchild’s number. 

The phone rings several times and then Dawn hears the other end pick up.

“You got Faith.” 

“It’s Dawn, did you get the information I sent you?” 

“Yeah, you want this done tonight?”

“Wait one hour, then do it.” Dawn instructs. “There’ll be an envelope with ten grand at the shop by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Perfect.” Faith says. “I’ll call when it’s done.”

Dawn hears the phone click and knows that Faith has hung up, so she returns her cell phone to her pocket and turns back to Liam.

“She’s in.”

 

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” William says, hanging up his cell phone and standing from his desk. He pulls his gun out of the top drawer and checks that it has a full clip before stuffing it into the holster on his waistband.

He makes his way through the precinct and out into the front parking lot where his DeSoto is waiting. He quickly gets in and turns on the engine before pulling out and heading towards Tainted Ink. He doesn’t see Jimmy following at a distance as he drives through a yellow light in time to lose him for the moment.

About fifteen minutes later, he pulls into the mouth of the alleyway and sees Vi’s head pop out from behind the dumpster for a short moment before she comes out into clear view. He turns the car off and gets out of the car, walking over to where Vi remains standing by the dumpster and sees the body.

“What happened?” he questions, glancing from the body to Vi.

“Me and a couple of friends were practicing for our band, or trying to without two of the members. We finished up and came out, there were five people waiting for us, they all were in black and had masks.” Vi explains. “They attacked first and in the fight this one got killed, the others fled and I don’t think they know their friend got killed.”

“Did you do it?” William asks, crouching down and checking the body.

“No.” Vi says, brushing a lock of hair that has come loose out of her face. “It was an accident.”

“Who did it Vi?” 

“Serena Lehane, but it really was an accident.” Vi maintains. “I think this guy is with Purity or something, the ringleader called me ‘unnatural one’ before I kicked the shit out of his ass.”

“You’re probably right.” William agrees, “They killed Harmony Kendall the other night.”

“Yeah, I heard from Serena about that.” Vi tells him, “I’m sorry, I know you two were good friends.”

“Yeah, well with any luck this was the one who did it and you… Serena just made all of our lives a hell of a lot easier.” William says, pulling the mask off the man and revealing his face before he pulls out the dead Purity members’ wallet. “George Angleman.”

“Is it the guy that killed Harmony then?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“So what do we do then?” Vi asks, looking at William for guidance.

“There’s a body bag in the trunk of my car, get it.” The homicide detective instructs, handing her the keys. The redhead complies swiftly, popping open the trunk of the Desoto and pulling out the black bag stuffed under a box of files. She runs back as William drags George’s body out into the open, and she lays out the bag on the ground and unzips it. She and William work together to flip the slightly heavyset man over and then zip the bag close around him. Vi grabs the foot of the bag and William takes the upper body and they slowly carry the body over to the car, and shove it into the trunk of with some difficulty. Vi closes it and turns around only to find herself suddenly locked in a deep kiss with the vampire. She is startled for a moment, then gets into it just as a flashlight shines over the area.

“Will?” Jimmy questions as he gets out of his car, and both William and Vi turn to look as Jimmy approaches them.

“Are you following me Jim?” William asks, looking slightly offended. Vi, who hasn’t met Jimmy before just looks between the two men in confusion.

“Maybe, is there something you don’t want me to know about?”

“I haven’t the foggiest what you’re on about.”

“Harmony Kendall. You said you knew her for twelve years, did you know she had fangs? Because Wesley Pryce and Tara MaClay seemed to know, and think that you did too.” Jimmy says. “I heard them talking about how you told someone named Liam that I was getting too close to the truth. What truth?”

William sighed, this night kept on getting worse and worse. “What truth do you think it is. If you saw Harm’s fangs then there’s no point in lying.”

Jimmy looks at Vi upon her sharp intake of breath. “I think Harmony Kendall was a vampire, and you, Wesley and Tara are as well. Maybe even your friend here.”

“I promise you that I am most assuredly not a vampire.” Vi swears straight-faced.

“Will, tell me what the fuck is going on here.” Jimmy demands, turning away from Vi to look at his partner.

“Jimmy, there are certain rules in place, I can’t just-” William starts, but is cut off.

“What rules?” Jimmy demands, locked in a tirade. “Cause I sure as hell don’t recall a revision regarding vampires in the policeman’s oath.”

“He’s telling you the truth, there are rules for this shit. They’ve been in place for thousands of years, and we all abide by them.” Vi says, directing Jimmy’s attention once more.

“Well you’re a real character witness then, you just told me you weren’t a vampire, why would you have to follow these ‘rules’?”

“I didn’t lie. I’m not a vampire.” Vi defends, then mumbles out. “I’m something else.”

Jimmy’s eyes widen slightly and he glances between the two ‘supernaturals’ for a moment. “Great.. yeah that’s great.”

“Jim..”

“No Will, you don’t want to tell me, can’t tell me, whatever fine. We’re done.” Jimmy says, turning away from a three year long partnership as he heads back to his car.

“I’m a vampire Jim.” William says in reluctance. “I have been helping to keep our people a secret for almost two hundred years. I’m sorry if you feel I’ve deceived you, it wasn’t my intention. We’re not the monsters you see in movies or read about in books any more than humans are. There is no good versus evil here, no plots for human enslavement or destruction and we have souls. Can you say that every human holds true to those standards? Hitler. Saddam. Stalin. Do you have any idea how bad things would get if this information went public, for all of us, Human, Vampire and Moonchild.”

“Moonchild?” Jimmy questions confused.

“Humans commonly refer to us as werewolves or lycanthropes, although the guy who wrote Blood and Chocolate came pretty close with his depiction.” Vi explains.

“You’re a werewolf?” Jimmy asks in disbelief, and Vi’s eyes flash a bright blood red for a moment before they return to normal.

“If people knew about us, we’d be forced out of our homes. We’d be hunted down. It’s happened before, and it will more than likely happen again.” Vi tells him, and Jimmy sees the scared look in her face. “I just hope it’s not tomorrow and not here.”

“You’re terrified of the truth getting out.” Jimmy says, starting to understand.

“Wouldn’t you be, if you were in my position?” Vi counters. “Look what they did to the ‘witches’ of Salem, and that was just a huge PMS misunderstanding.”

“Jim, you can’t tell anyone about this.” William says, taking a step toward his partner and friend.

“Yeah, I’m getting that now.” Jimmy says, a troubled look on his face. “Who else knows? I would imagine there’s at least a few of my people that know, just so they can help protect it.”

“There’s a few.” William starts, but Jimmy once more cuts him off.

“But I couldn’t be trusted, huh?”

“He didn’t say that, most of the humans who know found out the same way you did, at least here on the Hub.” Vi gets right up into Jimmy’s face, eyes blazing now. “The same way I found out in Dallas back in 1984. Lucky for you, I’m not in a biting mood. That couldn’t be said about the douchebag that infected me. Before that I was just as human as you.”

Vi gives him a light shove that pushes him back a couple feet before she turns and stomps off around the side of William’s car and getting into the passenger side before slamming the door shut.

“Look, Jim. I know I haven’t been completely honest with you, but I need you to trust me on this and not do anything stupid with the information you have now. Vi wasn’t wrong about what she said, what happened in Salem would and will happen again, it’s just a question of when.”

“Your lack of faith in the goodness of humanity is unsettling.”

“Harmony Kendall was a dancer. She worked six nights a week, open to close most of them, and she also bartended at the club. She did work with PETA and went on cancer awareness marches. She had many friends, who will miss her now that she’s gone. She was also a vampire, and for that reason alone she was murdered. Where’s the humanity in that?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Like Vi said earlier, few people do.” William says, his eyes locked with his partner. “There’s only one Faith I know, and she’s a moonchild tattoo artist from Southie. She doesn’t cause problems for anyone. Her life would be destroyed if what you know, what we are, was known by the world.”

The two men fall into an uncomfortable silence, which is finally broken by Jimmy.

“It would really be that bad?”

“In this day in age, with chemical warfare, nuclear weapons and a right wing conservative neurotic behind the wheel of this country, it’ll be much, much worse.” William says honestly. “You’re a good man Jim. I know you’ll do the right thing.”

Jimmy is silent as William walks to the driver’s side of the car and opens the door, then turns and gets into his own car and backs out of the alley. In William’s car, both he and Vi watch through the rearview as Jimmy’s car drives off and then William moves to start the DeSoto, but Vi’s hand on his stops him cold and he turns his blue eyes to look into her hazel orbs.

“When you kissed me earlier, that was just to distract your partner, right? I mean there wasn’t anything like..” Vi trails off for a moment. “Oh fuck it.” She swears aloud before crashing her lips down on his, and he is all too happy to reciprocate.

The pair soon ends up in the backseat of the Desoto, and the windows begin to fog up.

 

Faith silently crept up the fire escape that was fastened to the side of the apartment building where Malcolm Edwards resided in, and when she reached the bedroom window she let out a muffled whoop of joy upon the discovery that it was already unlocked and open a crack for the air to get in. She bit her lip in concentration as she opened the window as quietly as she could and then slipped into the bedroom.

She slowly creeps over to the closed door, turning the knob and opening it just a crack to peek out into the living room area. She can’t see much, but she does manage to catch sight of the top of Malcolm’s sandy blond haired head poking up over the back of the easy chair he is sitting on. Faith starts to open the door further, intent on getting the job done quick but quickly pulls back as Malcolm stands and walks over to the front door that someone has just knocked on. She pulls the door shut all but a crack once more and watches as Malcolm opens the door to allow entrance to a middle aged blonde woman and a tall dark haired man that just screamed ex-football jock. She recognized them as Maggie Walsh and Percy West from the files James had shown her the night prior. As she only had two bullets in her gun she opted to wait and hope that the other two left fast so she could take out Malcolm.

“By now I’m sure you’ve seen the news alert.” Faith hears Maggie say, sounding extremely displeased. 

Out in the living room Malcolm nods, casting a nervous glance at Percy as he wanders behind where he is standing, inspecting the bookshelf on the wall near his bedroom door and then turns back to Maggie, letting out a shaky breath as he does so.

“Yeah, I saw it.” Malcolm replies uneasily.

“You understand how this causes problems for the work we’re doing then.” 

“Look Maggie, I don’t even remember losing my wallet, I have no idea how it ended up in the police’ hands. I am your loyal soldier.” Malcolm stammers, and Maggie nods.

“I know all that Malcolm, I was never questioning your loyalty or work.” Maggie informs him. “However it happened is regardless, the end result is that you’ve become a liability. And for that sadly, there are consequences.” 

Maggie nods over Malcolm’s shoulder at Percy, who raises his silenced pp7 and shoots Malcolm four times, sending the man crashing through his coffee table causing an outward explosion of glass. Maggie is about to lead the way out when the two hear the sounds of something impacting metal coming from the direction of the late Malcolm’s bedroom and she jerks her head towards it, silently telling Percy to investigate.

The ex-jock quickly complies, kicking in the door as he rushes up to it, and swinging his gun around the empty room in readiness for a possible attacker. He quickly moves over to the window and looks down over the side of the fire escape, seeing only the tail lights as Faith’s Impala speeds away. He pulls himself back into the room and turns to see Maggie standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

“If there was any one in here, they got out a hell of a lot faster then I’d have been able to.” Percy notes, pulling the window closed.

“Let’s get out of here in case someone comes back. It could have been one of them.” Maggie orders before turning and walking out the front door of Malcolm’s apartment, Percy right on her heels, tucking his gun into the back waistband of his pants as he goes.

 

Faith made a quick turn at the corner of Birch and Revello, and pulls the Impala to a stop on the side of the street. She pushes the stress and disappointment out of her mind and then calls Dawn.

“It’s Faith. Malcolm’s been taken care of, but I can’t take credit.” Faith says wistfully into the phone. “Turns out Purity cleans up their own messes.”

“There will be other opportunities.” Dawn replies from the other end. “Go home and get some rest, I’ll come by the shop tomorrow with the money.”

“You don’t have to.”

“But I will anyways.” Dawn states on the other end. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Fine. Have a good night.” Faith disconnects the call and tosses the cell phone onto the passenger seat. She sits in silence for a few long moments, staring out onto the deserted street at two in the morning. She glances down at the phone a couple of times before grabbing it back up and scrolling through her contacts list until she reaches James’ listing. She stares at the call screen for a few moments before pressing end and tossing the phone back onto the seat and driving away from the curb.

 

It was about six in the evening the following day when James, Oz and Xander finally returned to the Hub, bringing with them Veruca, who had told them her real story after they had executed Warren. Turns out that Veruca’s sister Eva had been murdered by Purity six months ago and she was on a personal vendetta to get justice for her slain sibling.

When she’d found out that the people behind the scenes of Purity were believed to be in Boston, she’d all but begged for passage from Jersey to the Hub, and James found he had no objections.

They’d stopped in Worcester to talk to Darius Craven about his clan mates causing trouble over at Purgatory, managing to come to a solution without bloodshed, and James had agreed to giving Darius a few of the corners near the compound in South Boston to sell his product.

Xander was behind the wheel when the van finally pulled to a stop outside Purgatory and the four moonchildren disembark from the vehicle swiftly, inhaling the cool early evening air greedily.

“Bout time you showed up.” Pike intones, stepping out of the bar, followed by JT and his wife Niki Sullivan. “I think Faith’s just about to drag Serena and Jesse down to Jersey to look for you.”

Pike takes notice of Veruca and he tips his head in greeting. “Still picking up strays Foley?”

“Excuse me, but go fuck yourself.” Veruca snaps, glaring at Pike who holds his hands up in surrender. 

“Easy lass, I was only joking.” Pike pacifies and Veruca calms herself.

“Sorry, it’s been a stressful couple of months.” Veruca says after composing herself.

“Pike, JT, Niki, this is Veruca.” James makes a short introduction, then turns to Pike. “Is Faith inside?” 

“Everyone’s here except Vi and Nina, but I think Jesse said they were going to the Casino party, and Aura already came and left.” Niki answers from where she stands next to JT. She turns to Veruca. “Welcome to the Hub.”

“Thanks.” Veruca smiles as James walks off into the bar, the others following at their own paces.

James pushes his way through the crowd inside, making his way over to the bar, where Allen Doyle, James’ predecessor and mentor was tending to the orders being shouted out by the customers, all trying to be heard over the loud music emanating from the vintage 70’s jutebox. 

As James reached the bar, the familiar guitar solo in the opening of Tuesday’s Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd started playing through the speakers that were hooked into the jutebox.

“Foley.” Doyle greets as he passes him a sealed brown envelope. “Pass that along to Liam for me, would you? It’s his cut of my collections, Faith took yours.”

“Where’s she at?” James asks, reaching out to take the proffered envelope from Doyle and then he puts it in his jacket pocket.

“She, Serena, Jesse, and the Sullivan kids are up on the roof.” Doyle replies, and James gives him a quick nod, turning to do a quick scan of the bar, and seeing Oz leading the others through the door that led to the roof access stairwell.

“You gonna come up?” James asks as he faces Doyle once he’s decided no one is drunk enough to be a problem at the moment.

“In a bit.” Doyle replies. “I’m still waiting to see if the lovely Ms. Chase has decided to accept my invitation to our party.”

“It was my honor.” Cordelia says as she pushes through the throng of customers to stand next to James in front of the bar.

“Well that’d be my cue.” James says, taking the sudden arrival of Cordelia to start towards the roof access as well. “If things get out of control down here, give me a call. See you guys later.”

James strides back through the crowds, relieving local drug dealer ‘Spanky’ of a quarter ounce that he lifts from the other man’s pocket as he passes. Pulling open the metal door, he half jogs up the stairwell, and opens the door at the apex of the stairs before stepping back out into the cold night air.

“Welcome back.” Faith says from off to the side and he turns to see his longtime girlfriend with her back pressed against the concrete wall of the bordering building. “I trust by Dawn McHale dropping off forty thousand dollars at the tattoo shop yesterday that everyone went according to plan?”

“It was a bit pre-emptive on her part, but yeah, we got the bastard early this morning and hauled ass back here.”

“I’m sorry for going off on you the other morning, I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately.”

“It’s alright, I know I probably deserved it.”

“But that’s just it, you didn’t.” Faith replies, pulling a cigarette out of the pack of Marlboros she removes from her jeans pocket. “There’s something I need to tell you, I just wasn’t sure how you’d take it. James, I’m-”

“Hey are you guys gonna hang out over there all night like a couple of bums or are you gonna come join the party?” Pike’s voice calls out from the far end of the roof where he is standing with Oz and Veruca, a few feet from the ‘campfire’ that’s been started inside a old metal grill. James shoots him a glare and Pike gives a dismissive wave of his hand before taking a deep pull of the beer in his hand.

“Heavy thoughts?” Faith asks, drawing up close to James, who reaches out and brushes a few strands of Faith’s raven hair out of her face and she presses her cheek into his palm, massaging herself.

“Trying to decide if it’s going to be Xander or Pike that eventually causes my death through one of their schemes.”

“Hmmm… that is something to ponder.” Faith agrees, taking a drag off the cigarette. “My money’s on X-Man.”

“In better news, with the threat of Purity on the Hub, most of the work that Liam will be having me do will be right here in the city, so maybe I’ll even be able to take a few shifts over at the shop.”

“That’d be terrific.” Faith replies happily. “I did see a drop in the return customers when you stopped working there full time.”

“I’ll start right after we get back from Vegas.” James promises, looking down into Faith’s chocolate orbs.

“Vegas… we.. Really?!” Faith’s eyes are emblazoned with clear delight.

“It was a stipulation of the job Liam had for me in Jersey.” James explains. “Labor Day weekend, we’re leaving Oz and Vi in charge of the clan and spending three completely workless days at the O’Connor Penthouse at the Bellagio.”

Faith tosses the cigarette down onto the tarred roof and grabs James by the side of the face before crashing her lips down on his in a searing kiss. When they finally come up for air they quickly link hands and make their way over to where the other members of the clan are gathered, and young Kellie Sullivan runs over to wrap her arms around Faith’s leg.

“Auntie Faith, mommy says that she and daddy and you and uncle Pike and uncle James are all moonchildren, what’s a moonchildren?”

“Moonchild honey.” Faith corrects Kellie gently, crouching down to her knees to put herself at almost eye level with the four year old. “You remember when I got mad at Aunt Serena for letting you and your brother watch ‘The Wolfman’?”

“Uh-huh.” Kellie replies, rubbing her hand against her left eye which flickers red in the moonlight. “You said that it was uh.. bass femmy.”

“Blasphemy Kels.” Niki says, rubbing the top of her daughter’s head.

“Moonchildren are not the monsters you see in the movies.” Faith tells the young girl.

“Yes they are, they all go ‘grrr.. arghh..” Kellie’s twin brother Cole pipes up as he trods over as well.

“Only when they’re angry.” Faith comments. “We’re not like those beasts, and you two won’t be either.”

“We’s gonna be wolves?” Kellie asks, her eyes wide in wonderment.

“Yep, and sooner more than later I’m thinking.” Faith notes, seeing both Kellie and Cole’s eyes flash red again briefly.

“We figured it was time to start letting them come to the Blood Moon parties.” Niki says, scooping Kellie into her arms and her daughter lays her head down on Niki’s shoulder. “They’ll have shifted by years end and I wanted them to be brought up the same way I was.”

While most of the Blood Clover Clan had been infected with Lycanthropy as Vi had admitted to have been to Jimmy, five of the members were born Moonchildren. Niki was one of them, the others being James, Faith, Serena and Oz. Veruca would make a sixth if she chose to stay on the Hub past the Purity situation.

“At best it’ll be years end, but from the way it looks I’d be more inclined to say days, maybe a week or two.” Faith says, passing a meaningful look at Niki and JT. “Best thing you can do for now is try and break Cole of his negative views on what we are, what he will be.”

“We’re working on it.” JT replies with a nod as he hoists Cole up into his own arms when the boy tries to sneak by, having decided that hanging out with Xander and Jesse would be much more enjoyable as the two pranksters of the clan had brought out a box of fireworks left over from Midsummer.

“Daddy, I want down. Uncle Xan and Uncle Jesse have the boom toys.” Cole complains as he squirms in his father’s firm hold.

“You’ll see them fine from over here.” JT says, looking down at his son’s rebellious eyes, which softens into a pout a moment later and JT chuckles.

 

Liam looked up from behind the desk in his crew’s social club that had access to both the pub and Fireside Lounge when the door opened and Wesley walked through, leading Holland Manners, Liam’s capo that ran the Boston branch of Wolfram and Hart, and Richard Wilkins, the thrice elected mayor of Boston and another of Liam’s capos.

“Gentlemen.” Liam stands for a moment to motion to the two captains to take a seat as Wesley wanders over to the minibar and grabs a bottle of wine and four glasses that he brings over and places on the desk. “Thank you for joining me, I understand from Wesley that you have some business to discuss?”

“Russell Thorpe is going to be leaving Nantucket to go back to Europe.” Holland explains. “He has a few loose ends to tie up, one of which is a construction contract and deed for a new beach resort on the island.”

“He’s offered us the contract for a mere seven million.” Wilkins continues. “If we put our people on it and the construction goes swiftly, we can all be lounging on a private beach in nine months time.”

“If we put the Black Rose name on it we can triple our investment in less than a year, even if we made it vampire exclusive.” Holland finishes, and Liam looks between his two capos with a thoughtful look on his face.

“What are the percentages?” he asks after a moment.

“We’re thinking 60-20-20.” Wilkins replies. “Controlling interest in your pocket, another few million a year in our pockets, everyone wins.”

“Indeed.” Liam agrees, taking the offered glass of wine that Wesley passes to him as he stands to his feet. “Tell Russell to contact me, I want to see the place for myself before I make any decisions. Now, if you gentlemen have nothing else to discuss, I believe that we’re late for a party.”

The Mayor and W&H CEO nod as they stand as well, and then all four vampires head for the door that led down to the lounge.

 

“James said that Purity killed your sister, I’m sorry for your loss.” Faith says as she steps up next to Veruca, who is standing at the north edge of the roof, looking out at the Boston skyline that is lit up by the moon shining down.

Veruca looks over at Faith as she pulls out her Marlboro pack and offers a cigarette to the other moonchild. Veruca reaches down and pulls one out, fixing Faith with a smile of gratitude.

“Thanks.” Veruca intones, putting the filter between her lips and lighting up the cigarette. “So from what I’ve been told, the main force behind those racists are right here in Boston. What do you think our chances of actually taking them down are?”

“I don’t know, but they’ve just lost two lieutenants, so I’m inclined to believe the odds are at least slightly better than they were yesterday.” Faith replies as she flips her zippo alight and then holds it to the tip of her own cigarette. 

“Then no doubt they’ll be looking for new recruits.” Veruca says, taking a deep drag off the cigarette. “Purity doesn’t know my face or name, and I can’t rest until they’re gone.”

“You want to go undercover?” Faith asks, glancing at the other woman before looking over her shoulder towards the rest of the Blood Clover Clan that were gathered around as Xander and Jesse were setting up the fireworks for later in the party. “I think I can help you with that, but it’s gonna be pretty damn risky.”

“Ava would have done the same for me.” Veruca replies, exhaling the smoke out of her mouth. “I owe her more than you can imagine, and that’s why I need to do this.”

Faith nods in understanding, if she didn’t think that Purity knew her, then she’d more likely than not be in the same position as Veruca. The blonde wasn’t the only one who’d lost family to those hate mongers.

“It gets better. You never forget, but it gets easier from time.”

“Is that speaking from experience?” Veruca asks, taking another drag off the cigarette and casting a short glance at Faith before looking back out over the city before them.

“We were both born wolves, I’m sure that you know how big some families are.” Faith says, looking back towards the ‘campfire’, her gaze honing in on where Serena is sitting next to Jesse and laughing at something Xander is telling them. “I was once one of eight children, now I’m one of three, and with Nathan in prison, it’s just me and Serena now.”

“Was it Purity that did it?”

“They took Sarah and Trent, but Coralline, Nicolas and Christopher were killed by a rogue vampire named Heinrich Nest in California. He’s dead now, so that’s a small comfort, but we never found the ones who killed Sarah and Trent.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ve gotten over it, it was years ago.” Faith replies. “I miss them like hell, but I’m sure they’re happier now. And it’s not like we won’t meet again.”

“You believe in the hereafter then?” Veruca questions, looking thoughtful.

“The idea of seeing my lost siblings again gives me hope.” Faith answers, tossing the remains of her cigarette over the edge of the roof. “It’s what keeps me going.”

Veruca nods and the two moonchildren fall into silence as they stare out over the city for a few more moments and then return to the campfire and the other wolves.

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for joining us on this very special night.” Dawn speaks into the microphone that is set up on the stage in the corner of the lounge. “Tonight is the 15th anniversary of the Fireside Lounge and the beginning of the 24th business year of the Black Rose Hotel and Casino. As we all stand here, looking forward into the future and at the dawn of a new millennium, we remember fondly those who were instrumental to the rise of our empire and sadly are no longer around to enjoy the fruits of their labors.” Dawn pauses for a moment and raises her glass of blood wine skyward. “To Joyce McHale, to Robert Flutie, to Alonna Gunn and Carter Pratt, and most recently Harmony Kendall. Wherever you all are now, rest peacefully and we’ll meet you in the next life.”

Dawn takes a pull of her bloodwine and then her expression brightens. “And now without further ado, I’d like to introduce the Hub’s next rising star, who will be gracing us on this momentous evening with her musical talents. Please give a big round of applause for Miss Erica Summers!”

Dawn turns and strides off the stage, shaking hands with Erica briefly as they pass each other on Erica’s way towards the microphone. Dawn hops off the edge of the stage and makes her way over to Liam’s table in the back of the room as Erica starts into her set.

“I want to thank Dawn McHale for giving me this opportunity, it is a dream come true.” Erica gushes, trying to keep her composure over the anxiety that had reared its ugly head. After a moment she sees her sister in the crowd by the bar, watching her with a smile on her face. “This song is called Letters from the Sky.”

“One of these days the sky’s gonna break  
And everything will escape and I’ll know.  
One of these days the mountains  
Gonna fall into the sea and they’ll know.”

At the Blood Moon Party, James and Faith stand together, their hands clasped as they stare up at the fireworks display being ignited by Xander and Jesse. Niki and JT stand to their right, Cole and Kellie in their arms, both children enthralled by the bright explosions of color in the sky. Serena stands to Faith’s left, a troubled glint in her eyes as she too watches the fireworks above. Oz and Veruca stand behind Serena, and Pike is on the other side of the Sullivan family. Doyle and Cordelia wander up to the group, having emerged from the stairwell that led down into the bar and walk over to join the rest of the moonchildren.

“That you and I, were made for this  
I was made to taste your kiss  
We were made to never fall away  
Never fall away…”

Jimmy pulls to a stop in front of William’s apartment, but drives off upon seeing the lights off inside. He drives a bit further and stops in front of McGinty’s Irish Pub, then gets out of the car and walks into the establishment. 

“One of these days letters are gonna fall from the sky  
Telling us all to go free but until that day I find a way  
To let everybody know that you’re coming back  
You’re coming back for me….”

William looks away from Penn and Gunn who are chatting with him, and sees Vi entering the lounge. He gives her a wry grin and excuses himself from the other two vampires, before making his way over to the redhead in question. He offers his hand out to the moonchild and she takes it with a warm look in her eyes. The two walk out onto the dance floor.

“Cause even though you left me here I have nothing left to fear  
These are only walls to hold me here  
Hold me here…  
Hold me here… Hold me here…  
The walls to hold me here….”

Liam turns to face Elizabeth when she nudges him in the back to alert him of her presence. He smiles down at her and makes a motion toward the dance floor, and she gives a quick nod. From the bar, Giles sees this and though he looks less than pleased, but shrugs it off after a moment, then turns back to his conversation with Dawn and Jenny. From the stage, Erica almost loses her composure once more at the sight of Liam and Elizabeth together and a concerned look flashes across her face for a couple seconds before she recovers and continues the song. The screen fades to black. 

 

Luke looked up as the van passed by the front of the occult bookstore once again, and let out a strangled cry as the glass suddenly shattered inward as something was thrown through the large window. A moment later he realizes that it’s a white phosphorous grenade and turns to dive for cover. 

“Grenade!” he yells at his two co-workers Kyle and Tor, who also attempt to dive for safety.

A moment later the grenade goes off and the explosion rips the store apart, fire blazing out the front door and shattered window. The van remains parked for a few moments on the street, then at the sound of sirens drives off into the night.

One day soon I hold you like the sun  
hold still and we will hear those planes  
overhead and we wont have to be scared  
Cause we wont have to be… yeah  
We won’t have to be ….  
You coming back for me  
You coming back for me  
You coming back for me  
You coming back for me

End of Episode One.

A/N: And with that I have just written the longest opening chapter to any fic I’ve written in the near decade that I’ve been writing fanfic. Hope that you’ve enjoyed reading my drivel and I hope that you continue to follow the series. Much love from the Stoner Guru, good night folks.

In The Next Episode: James and Faith go to Vegas and meet Sin City Godfather Lindsey MacDonald.

The men and women of Precinct #17 (JT, Pike, William, Jimmy, Tara, Wesley, Robin and Penn) are called up to work with the FBI on the bookstore bombing, alongside agents Corbin Fries, Adam Knox, and Special Agent Paul Stein, who has been brought up from the DC Offices to deal with the Purity Situation. 

Liam meets Jimmy for the first time, and explains to him the laws of vampires and werewolves, then goes with Holland, Wilkins, Giles, Dawn, Elizabeth and Gunn to Nantucket to meet with Russell Thorpe at his beach property.

Serena struggles to cope with having killed a man, and enlists the help of a psychiatrist, Dr. India Cohen.

Maggie Walsh begins recruiting in Boston in the wake of the deaths of Warren, Malcolm and Angleman, Veruca gets an in, and then Purity strikes a grievous blow that will be felt by the entire supernatural community of The Hub.

All this and more in ‘A Moonchild walks into a Psychiatrist Office’, coming soon!  
2\. A Moonchild Walks Into A Psychiatrist Office  
The Hub  
Season One, Episode Two - “A Moonchild walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office”

Disclaimer: Still don’t own Buffy, Angel, Family Guy or much of anything really…

 

And without further ado, here’s episode two. 

[b] Two Weeks Later [/b]

Serena fidgets nervously as she eyes the door to the office of Dr. India Cohen, the only psychiatrist on the Hub who knew of the supernatural world, and apparently highly recommended amongst the human populace. Faith and James had dropped her off about a half hour ago, before continuing on their way to Logan Airport to catch their 3pm flight to Los Vegas. Serena snaps her head to face the direction of the door as it opens and Dr. Cohen emerges.

“Serena Lehane?” the shrink asks, and the moonchild nods a quick affirmative. “You can come in now.”

Serena quickly rises to her feet and follows the vampire into the room, taking a seat on the leather chair, and crossing her legs as India sits down as well.

“I understand from your physician that you’ve been experiencing bouts of depression and anxiety since the end of August, and by your own admission was on the verge of a breakdown at your workplace a couple nights ago.” India prods, trying to get Serena to open up.

“The last couple weeks have been more and more stressful with each passing day.” Serena says. “I was involved in an incident a while back and I can’t shake the feelings of guilt I have for my part in what happened.”

“What was it that happened?” India questions, keeping a level gaze on Serena.

“It was bad, that’s as much as I can say about it.” Serena tells her, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin atop her palms as she leans forward on the chair. “Afterwards though, everyone just acted like nothing happened and some days it’s hard to keep up the charade.”

“So your friends have moved past this incident, why do you think it is so hard for you to do the same?”

“Well for starters, they weren’t the cause of what happened.” Serena replies, her gaze falling to the Oriental rug spread out over the hardwood floor. “I was.”

“Did someone get hurt as a result of this incident?” India questions softly, but Serena remains silent as she continues to stare at the rug. “I cannot help you unless you let me Serena.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It can be.”

“If it was, I wouldn’t be here, now would I?” Serena argues, looking agitated. “You know about what’s really happening out there. The true nature of the world, and what I am, of which most of your people remain blissfully ignorant.”

“Some would call you blessed.”

“Yeah, well the other five and a half billion people on this rock would call me monster.” Serena argues. “I’ve lost most of my family because of what we are.”

“Do you resent them for leaving you behind, while they get to be together?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Serena responds, looking up from the rug and at India. “Maybe a little. I mean I still have my older sister Faith, and her twin brother Nathan, although he’s away.”

“Away?” India presses, and Serena lets out a sigh.

“He just finished his first of a four year term at the correctional facility in Shirley.”

“Do you see him often?”

“Once every month or so me, Faith and James, that’s Faith’s boyfriend and a close friend of the family, go out and visit him. It’s hard.”

“When was the last time you saw Nathan?”

“It was about three weeks before the incident.” Serena answers. “Faith said she was planning on making a trip when she and James get back from Vegas in a few days.”

“Maybe you should go see Nathan on your own. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”

“Maybe I will.”

“Let’s talk about your sister Faith…”

 

Jimmy casts a wary glance at William as the blonde vampire walks into the conference room and sits down between Penn and Tara on the other side of the table. Jimmy tears his gaze away from his partner, turning to face Major Robin Wood as he calls for the attention of his ‘troops’.

“As you all know by now, two weeks ago the Pearl St. location of the popular Calendar Occult Bookstore was firebombed. What we didn’t know until now is that a suspected terrorist cell known as Purity has claimed responsibility for the destruction on the internet.” Robin states, looking out over the faces of Jimmy, William, Tara, Penn, JT, Pike, Wesley, and Jonathan Levinsen, who are gathered around the table. “Paul Stein of the FBI’s Special Cases has been flown in from DC and will be collaborating with our regular in-house agents Knox and Fries until this matter is resolved. I’m not looking for a repeat of the debacle we suffered during the initial manhunt for James Bulger five years ago, and by the look Fries had when I saw him come in with Agent Stein earlier, I’m thinking that they are labeling the capture of the perpetrators as high priority.”

“You’d be right.” Agent Paul Stein agrees as he enters the conference room, flanked on either side by the aforementioned Knox and Fries. “The cell is question is known as Purity, an almost cult-like group of yahoos led by the former head of genetic research at Cornell, Dr. Margaret ‘Maggie’ Walsh. Purity has been linked to bombings all up and down the east coast.”

Stein gives a short nod to Corbin Fries who places his briefcase onto the table and opens it, pulling out a small stack of pictures that he passes to his superior. Stein carries the prints over to the large corkboard on the wall behind Jimmy, Wesley, JT and Pike, who all turn in their chairs to get a better look.

Stein pins the four pictures up and faces the group before pointing out the first picture, which is of a burned out car.

“Tampa, Florida 1996. The car belonged to Xavier and Patricia Holtz, wealthy philanthropists who had been departing a charity ball in the city when the bomb went off.”

“Nashville, Tennesee 1998. Professional Wrestler Brendon Green was found murdered outside the local Gold’s Gym.” Stein continues onto the next picture of a sheet covered body next to an old Ford Bronco.

The third picture shows a dozen sheet covered bodies in the burnt out shell of what looks to be a pub. “New York City, seven months ago. The target is believed to have been one Ethan Rayne, a local businessman who had luckily missed the attack, having left just minutes prior to the blast that killed the four employees that had been working, as well as eight patrons.”

Stein moves on to the final picture, three bodies lying under white sheets in an alley scene all too familiar to JT.

“This is-” Stein starts, but is cut off by the moonchild homicide detective.

“Sarah and Trent Lehane, and Mitchell Valdez.” JT interrupts, drawing the attention of Stein and the rest of those present.

“Yes. They were all killed three years ago in Philadelphia, although they had all been confirmed to have been residing in Massachusetts at the time of their deaths.” Stein replies knowledgably. “None of the victims of the individual crimes had any connection to the others, other than the fact that the name of the group responsible had been spray painted onto nearby buildings at each site.”

Stein looks at JT for a few moments, before speaking again.

“How did you know the Philadelphia victims?”

“I know the Lehane family, a couple of their sisters still live in the city.” JT replies, keeping eye contact with the FBI Agent, who nods his head curtly after a moment.

“If the Lehane’s are friends of yours, I suggest you contact them as soon as possible. They could be targets.” The FBI agent suggests with a grim expression.

 

(Insert credits for The Hub here)

 

[i] Faith slowly opens the front door of Tainted Ink and makes her way into the tattoo shop, flicking the lights on and letting out a gasp as she spots her late sister, Sarah Lehane sitting in one of the tattoo chairs just staring at her with dead eyes. Faith’s own eyes widen as Sarah lifts her hand and points behind Faith, causing her to turn around and see her brother Trent, also dead, with his back to her as he looks out the large window as the headlights of an approaching vehicle grow brighter. Faith holds her hand up to shield her eyes, and the world turns white. [/i]

Faith slowly returns to wakefulness, blinking her eyes a couple of times to clear the sleep out before she turns to James, who is sitting in the first-class seat next to her, her hands wrapped in his larger ones.

“Did we land yet?” Faith inquires tiredly, as she reaches over to the window and starts to lift the plastic shutter blocking her view of the outside.

“No, we have about another twenty minutes or so.” James replies, looking over upon hearing her voice. “We stopped in Chicago for an hour so that they could pick up a few dozen more people. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“What time is it then?” Faith asks, looking out into the dark sky beyond the window.

“Coming up on 3am, you can go back to sleep if you want. I’ll wake you up again when we touch down.” James offers but Faith shakes her head, blinking the last of the sleep out of her eyes.

“Nah, I keep having bad dreams.”

“About Purity?” James asks, a concerned glint forming in his eyes.

“Among other things.” Faith replies softly. “I keep seeing Sarah and Trent in my dreams, I think they’re trying to warn me, but I just can’t understand what it is.”

“Hopefully it isn’t about a doomed flight.” James says with a dry smirk, Faith elbows him in the side hard and he lets out a small expulsion as the air is driven out of his lungs. 

“Ass.” Faith prods him again. “As if I wasn’t already nervous enough.”

“Relax Faith, I was only having a wee laugh.” James says, grabbing Faith’s fists in his own to cease her assault. She stills, and stares into James’ eyes, and then squeezes her own shut as she realizes that they’re burning bright red. She waits a few moments, then blinks a couple times and they revert to their normal chocolate color. 

“You’re good.” James whispers into her ear and she gives him a wary nod.

[i] “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain Glenn Quagmire speaking, we are coming up on Los Vegas and will be touching down in fifteen minutes, so please turn off all electronic devices and return your seat back and tray table to their upright positons. Thank you for choosing Continental. Giggity, gig-gig-Giggity.” [/i]

Upon the end of the announcement from the pilot, Faith motions to the nearby flight attendant, who walks over briskly. Faith sees her nametag reads ‘Paige’.

“What can I help y’all with?” Paige asks with a friendly southern lilt to her voice.

“What was that at the end of the pilot’s speech? Giggity?” Faith asks, looking confused.

“Oh yes, well.” Paige mumbles. “He was recently diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome.”

James and Faith exchange a wary look before they both turn to the attendant once more.

“Are we safe?” Faith questions, her eyes widening.

 

“Are you sure this is the best idea?” Oz questions, gazing across the hotel room table at Veruca who was pouring over copies of everything that Liam and all his contacts on the Hub had on the Purity group. The blonde moonchild looks up from the file on Maggie Walsh to meet Oz’s gaze with a determined look on her face.

“The best?” Veruca questions aloud. “Not hardly, but it is the only idea.”

“It’s gonna be pretty risky.” Oz intones, “And that’s not me belittling your given ability to actually pull this off, but it’d be hard for any one of us.”

“Have you lost family to those monsters? I mean real blood family?” Veruca questions, a fierce glint in her eyes as she maintains her level gaze at Oz.

“No. No, I haven’t.” Oz answers.

“Then you can’t understand.” Veruca states with finality, “The only people I’ve met on the Hub so far that do understand are James, Faith, and Serena. It’s not your fault, you’ve just been lucky enough to not have experienced that kind of loss and I wouldn’t wish for you too either.”

Oz nods, not knowing how to respond, and after a few seconds, Veruca’s attention returns to her research. The guitarist watches her for a long moment, then returns to cleaning his gun, which had almost jammed a couple days following the Meers hit, when he, Jesse and Vi had driven out to Callahan state forest to blow off some steam and to shoot off a few shots at cans set up on a small cliff face, and the last thing he needed was a malfunctioning firearm in the event of an attack from the Purity racists.

 

The door to the darkened penthouse swings open and the concierge leads James and Faith into Liam’s residence on the top floor of the Belliagio. Faith moves further into the expensive dwelling with her heavy bag draped over her shoulder as James pays the concierge for his trouble, passing over two hundred dollars to the blonde man.

“Mr. Lindsey MacDonald has requested that you and the missus join him for dinner tonight.” The blonde man says and James gives a brief nod.

“Where would he like to meet?” the Irish wolf asks.

“Mr. MacDonald dines at Giovanni’s on Friday nights, he said he would send a car for the both of you at seven tonight.”

“Wee bit presumptuous of him, aye?”

“Perhaps, but I’ve long since learned not question his requests.” The concierge replies, brushing his hair back slightly and James can see the thin scar lining the right side of the man’s throat, which looks to have been the work of a fang or claw.

“I guess a work-free weekend was out of the realm of possibility anyways.” James mutters. “Tell him we accept his invitation and will see him tonight.”

“Very good. Enjoy your stay Mr. Foley.” The blond man nods quickly and departs from the room as James hefts up his bag and follows Faith’s earlier path into the spacious living area. 

He finds his raven haired lover standing by the east bay window, looking out over the pre-dawn skyline, lit up by the countless lights of casinos and entertainment venues. He drops his bag onto the floor as he makes his way over to her, and wraps his arms around her waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. Faith’s body molds into his as if instinctively and she lets out a content sigh.

“Beautiful, aye?” he asks before kissing the side of her neck.

“Mmm… yeah.” Faith moans, enjoying the attention James is giving her immensely. “But I do have to ask, what invitation did we just accept?”

James pulls away from her so he can speak unhindered. “Lindsey Macdonald, Vegas’ answer to O’Connor has requested that we join him for dinner tonight, and I think it was more of a polite demand.”

“So fuck him then.” Faith says, turning to face the other moonchild. “This is supposed to be our vacation.”

“No one is saying it isn’t.” James retorts. “For all we know he just wants to do the usual meet and greet, and at a five star restaurant.”

“If it wasn’t a well known fact that O’Connor and MacDonald were ‘old’ friends, I might believe that.” Faith tells him, a small hint of anger creeping into her voice. 

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you Faith, I don’t know what McDonald wants. What you heard was me finding out as well, this wasn’t planned.”

Faith looks agitated for a few moments before she sags, the fight gone from her as if a switch has been flipped. “I know, I’m sorry.” She says as she looks away. 

It is only his enhanced hearing that allows him to pick up her mumbled whisper of ‘Damn hormones’ and has him putting his hands on each side of Faith’s face and tilting it back so she is facing him. As they lock eyes, Faith recognizes the look on James’ own face as ‘explain now’ and she knows he caught her hormone comment.

“Faith, are you..?” James trails off, leaving the question unfinished, but she knows the end.

“Yes.” She answers, “I found out a couple days before Blood Moon, it’s why I was so on edge when you had to go down to Jersey for the Meers hit.” Faith pauses, her expression a mix of concern and fear. “I didn’t.. I wasn’t sure how to tell you, it never seemed to be a good time. And with Purity a real threat these days I wasn’t sure it was even the right time for it…”

Faith goes silent as James throws his arms around her, wrapping them around her smaller form, and after a moment she hears him murmuring in her ear, breaking the silence that had fallen, if only slightly.

“We’ll make it work, I don’t care if Fenrir himself rains hell on us.” James whispers to her, making a promise that Faith wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep. “I love you so much Faith, we’ll find a way to do this, we always have.”

James pulls away just enough that he can gaze into Faith’s chocolate orbs, and after a few long moments of the two being caught in the moment, she gives a few nods of her head and the conflicted look on her face fades to a happy smile and she is quickly swept into what would be a bone crushing hug for a normal human, but with her ‘gifts’ it didn’t bother her all that much.

 

“We need to talk Jim.” William says, as he pulls his estranged partner into the empty office that had once belonged to Robert Flutie and closes the door behind them. “I know you’re still mad that I kept secrets, but I need to know for sure that you’re not going to say anything.”

“It’s been two weeks and I haven’t said a goddamn thing to anyone, what the hell do you people want from me?” Jimmy demands, backing away from the vampire as if he was the plague.

“We don’t want anything from you other than your silence in regards to our world, and the way you’ve been acting of late has a lot of people nervous.”

“Well excuse me for having missed the training in how to properly deal with the knowledge of this kind of shit.” Jimmy retorts angrily. “And who are all these people that you say I’ve been making nervous? Wesley? Tara? Wood?” 

“They are some, yes, even if Robin is human.” William replies. “Your newfound awareness of our world has come to the attention of the king of Massachusetts, and he’s asked me to bring you by to meet with him.”

“Why? So he can kill me?” Jimmy demands, not looking thrilled with meeting more vampires.

“No, that isn’t his plan at the moment, he just, as many do, makes it a habit to know all the people who are supernatural or know of us.” William denies “He’ll kill you only if he feels you can’t be trusted.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“Wasn’t meant to be.” William snarks, and receives a glare from his partner. “Hey, both me and Vi gave you a chance to remain ignorant, you wanted to know. This is just standard procedure. In fact, I even managed to keep him busy with other things so he would postpone your meeting. But it is inevitable and its better we get it done with sooner rather than later.”

“Fine, I’ll meet this ‘king’ of yours.” Jimmy submits with reluctance. “But I will tell you straight out there’s no way in hell I’m swearing fealty to him or anything like that.”

William fixes him with an amused look and a chuckle, which serves to further sharpen Jimmy’s glare at him and opens his mouth to speak.

“Jimmy-boy, vampires and moonchildren haven’t abided by that kind of social hierarchy since more than a century before I was even made a vampire, in fact there are only four people on the Hub that were even around during those times.” William informs Jimmy with mock indignation in his voice. Jimmy gives him a look that the vampire recognizes as ‘Are you completely nuts?’ and William gives a short shrug of his shoulder. “The man I’m bringing you to meet is one of those four, and he doesn’t particularly care to be kept waiting, so let’s go.”

William opens the door and leaves, leaving Jimmy alone in the room. He remains where he stands for a few moments before curiosity wins out and he starts after his partner.

 

“Miss Summers?” Elizabeth looked away from the laptop to face Rupert as he emerged from his office and addressed her.

“Yes Mr. Giles?” She inquires expectantly.

“Do you have any off-work plans for the next few days?” her boss inquires and she shakes her head.

“Nothing major that can’t be rescheduled, why?” the blonde assistant replies after thinking for a moment.

“Mr. O’Connor has recently become interested in some beach property on Nantucket as a possible secondary site for the casino and hotel, and I’ve been asked to accompany him and several others to the island this afternoon.” Giles informs her. “I was curious to know if you’d be interested in joining us?”

“Yeah, of course.” Elizabeth replies brightly. “I’ve never been to Nantucket before, so it’d be my pleasure.”

“Excellent, you can have the next few hours off if you need to go pack anything, Liam wants to leave at three this afternoon.” Giles tells her and she gives a quick nod.

“I can get all that done quick, and be back her in less than an hour or so.” Elizabeth informs him. “Want me to pick up lunch on my way back?”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, then yes.”

“It’s no trouble at all.” She insists. “I was gonna stop by Luigi’s. Any preference?”

“Italian, with all the works except lettuce.” The Black Rose manager answers, and then the two look over at the door as a knock sounds from the other side. “Come on in.” Giles calls out in reply.

The door is pushed open and a tall man in his mid-fifties enter, shutting the door behind him before addressing the two.

“Mr. Giles?” the man inquires, receiving a nod from the Englishman. “I’m Dante Baldwin.”

“The new night manager, yes I’m aware.” Giles replies, holding his hand out which Dante takes in a formal greeting. “My assistant, Elizabeth Summers.” He says as the two men end their handshake and his moves to indicate the blonde woman.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Baldwin.” Elizabeth chirps amicably, and Dante gives her a slight bow of his head in response.

“Likewise, miss.” Dante says warmly, as Elizabeth grabs her laptop bag off her desk and starts to leave. The two men retreat to Giles’ inner office as the blonde exits the front door.

 

William pulls his car to a stop in front of the WilkinsCorp building, and turns off the engine before getting out of the car. Jimmy exits from the passenger side and waits as William walks around the car to join him on the sidewalk, then the two homicide detectives stride through the front door of the building and into the lobby. William leads the way over to the elevator bank and when they have both boarded the car, William presses the button to the penthouse that housed Scarlet Rain.

“I thought we were going to see this Liam guy.” Jimmy says in confusion. “This is the club that that Kendall girl worked at.”

“Remember how I told you the club was exclusive but not necessarily upper class?” William asks, and upon Jimmy’s nod he continues speaking. “Scarlet Rain caters to the supernatural citizens of Boston.”

“And this Liam owns the club?” Jimmy inquires, his left hand resting on the back end of his service gun where it is stored in his waist holster.

“No. Richard Wilkins owns the entire building. Liam owns the Black Rose.”

“Mayor Wilkins and Liam O’Connor are vampires?!” Jimmy blurts, clearly surprised at the new information. He meets the gaze of William for a brief moment and sees only seriousness in the eyes of his partner. “I guess I shouldn’t really be too surprised, with all I’ve learned in the past couple of weeks. You said Liam was one of the oldest four vampires in Boston, is the mayor one too?”

“No, of the four eldest vampires living on the Hub, Liam is the youngest, having been sired in 1623.” William replies after a moment. “The mayor wasn’t turned for more than eight decades following that. He was sired in 1706.”

“And you? Jimmy questions, with barely concealed interest.

“1763, in London.” The blonde homicide detective answers, rolling his eyes at the sight of Jimmy’s wide ones. “I did tell you that I had been helping to keep the supernatural world a secret for more than two centuries remember.”

“I know you did, that doesn’t make it any easier for me to wrap my brain around it.” Jimmy snaps, rubbing his temples with his thumbs. “Jesus Will, this shit shouldn’t be possible in the first place.”

“There’s a difference between the impossible and human perception of impossibility, a fairly large one actually.” William replies, not phased by his partner’s words. 

“When did you turn into a philosopher?”

“I haven’t.” William shrugs off the latest question. “When you’ve been around as long as I’ve been, you learn not to question what’s possible and what isn’t. It’s a fruitless endeavor and I’ve long since learned to just live for the day.”

“Is that why you became a cop? To live for the day, or night if you will?”

“I’ve been a cop in more than two dozen cities in the last century and a half.” William responds. “So yes, I guess you could say it’s among the reasons.”

“And how many lives have you ended to preserve your secret?”

“A fair few, but only the ones who were actively a threat.” William answers honestly. 

“And you can live with the blood on your hands?” Jimmy inquires, the dark look back in his eyes. 

“I have no delusions of what awaits me when I do finally meet my end.” William admits. “But there’s more to why I do what I do than just to fulfill my own desires. There are plenty of innocent vampires and even moonchildren that just want to live in this world, people like Harmony. I get blood on my hands, so that they don’t have to.”

Jimmy has no reply to this and the two men fall into silence for the remainder of the elevator ride.

 

Serena sits in her car, parked in the small dirt lot on the side of the road adjacent to the Shirley House of Corrections. She remains unmoving for several long moments, ignoring the ringing cell phone on the passenger seat, her gaze locked on the fenced off front entrance for people visiting prisoners. After about two minutes of her just staring ahead, she takes a couple deep breaths and steels her nerves before opening the door to the car and getting out. Quickly locking the car, she strides toward the entrance, giving a polite nod of greeting to the guard in the booth as he busses her in and she pulls open the door and enters.

She makes her way down the hallway inside and comes up to the door leading into the visitor registration office and enters quickly, making her way inside. She shuts the door behind her and walks over to the desk on the side of the room where the guard on duty gives her an appreciative once over before speaking.

“How can I help you Ma’am?” the mid-thirties prison guard inquires politely.

“Serena Lehane, I’m here for a visit with my brother Nathan. It was scheduled yesterday.” The youngest member of the Lehane family says, getting right to her business at hand. The guard ‘s eyes linger on her for a couple more seconds before he picks the clipboard off the desk and flips through the attached sheets of paper, stopping on the third sheet from the top and scanning it quickly. A moment later his hand goes to his transmitter and he raises it to his face.

“Hey Hodges, it’s Deacon.” The guard, Deacon, says into the receiver. “Get Nate off the yard, he’s got a visitor.”

“Ten minutes.” ‘Hodges’ voice crackles out of the speaker from the other end. Deacon gives a brief nod to Serena who gives him a small smile of thanks and takes a seat at one of the unoccupied booths and waits for her older brother to arrive.

 

The elevator control panel beeps and the doors slide open, alerting William and Jimmy of their arrival on the penthouse floor, and William takes the lead. The two detective walk through the ‘bar room’ area of the club, with William giving a subtle nod to Cassie Newton and Bethany Chaulk, two of the dancers employed at the club, currently working on cleaning up the place a bit and Jimmy catches the return nod from both female vampires. Jimmy takes a glance at both of the women, committing their faces to memory before continuing after his partner, who leads him up the staircase and stopping in front of the door at the top.

William knocks on the door in a seemingly well practiced tempo, and then the two wait for a few moments before they hear someone walking up to the other side of the door, the person’s footsteps heavy on the wooden floor inside as they approach. A few further seconds pass before the door opens and William exchanges a few hushed words with the bald African American that stands on the other side of the threshold. As Jimmy watches, the black man gives a curt nod to whatever William has said and backs away from the door to allow the two detectives entry.

“Jimmy, this is Charles Gunn. Charlie, this is my partner Jimmy Halloran.” William introduces, pulling a cigarette out of his pack as Gunn shuts the door behind them and then leads the homicide detectives further into the set of rooms above the club, entering the room at the far end of the hallway and Jimmy lets out an appreciative whistle upon taking in the expensive décor adorning the room, his eyes falling on the bronzed statue of Achilles that stands near life size in the southwest corner of the large office.

“Damn, that must have set you back a few bucks huh?” Jimmy jokes to William and Gunn, who just look at him blankly for a few moments of uncomfortable silence. 

“I like to think it was worth it.” Liam says, making his presence known as he steps out of the side room and into view of Gunn and the two cops. He gives Jimmy a long look, his eyes both calculating and searching, and after a few long moments he finally speaks again. “So you’re Halloran huh? I kind of thought you’d be taller.”

“To most people I’m huge.” Jimmy counters, and Liam lets out a bark of laughter, the other two vampires chuckling alongside him, and it’s a few seconds before Jimmy realizes his poor choice of words and reddens slightly in embarrassment.

“Your size aside, we have other business to discuss I believe.” Liam ends his laughter a moment later and gets serious. “William informed me a couple weeks ago that you had stumbled onto the truth during a confrontation between yourself, William and moonchild Violet MacKenzie. Since that night he has reported seemingly increasing levels of stress you seem to be under and was worried, as I was, that you might crack under the pressure of the secrets you have been made privy to. This cannot be permitted, so I was hoping to get your assurance that it will not come to pass that you share this information with anyone else.”

“Jesus, you people are all neurotic.” Jimmy throws out callously. “I told William already that I wouldn’t, and from the three years that he’s known me he should be well aware of the fact that I keep my word. I don’t know what else you people want from me.”

“Easy Mr. Halloran, no one here is questioning your ethics or ability to keep a secret.” Liam holds his hands up. “It’s only that not all the people who learned of our existence were thrilled about it, and I’m sure William has told you of events that have transpired in the past when our kind was discovered?”

“Actually that Vi girl gave a pretty good layout of it.” Jimmy replies, forcing some of the tension out of his mind. He’d gotten a fairly good read off of the vampire known as Liam, and he seemed to be a fairly straightforward man, despite his ‘undead’ status.

“Then you must understand our concern, it’s not meant as a personal insult against you, just precaution that would be taken up in the case of any individual in the know who gives us cause to be concerned. Do you understand what I’m saying Mr. Halloran?”

“I understood two weeks ago just as well as I do now.” Jimmy grounds out, no small amount of irritation in his tone and he matches Liam’s stare with his own. The Hub Godfather is still for a few moments then nods.

“Just had to make sure.” Liam finally says, looking slightly apologetic. “Can’t be too careful these days.”

“This was a test?” the human detective blurts.

“As I told you before, it’s just standard procedure.” William speaks up, knowing Liam has gotten the answers he needs from a subtle look.

“Terrific.” Jimmy mutters, and his gaze returns to Liam. “So did I pass or what?”

“You did.” Liam replies simply, moving past the other three and taking a bottle of whiskey off mini-bar counter. He pours four shot glasses full and passes them to the others, Jimmy taking his reluctantly. 

“One in the afternoon’s a bit early for whiskey, isn’t it?” Jimmy comments, watching as the vampires throw back their own glasses before looking down at his own.

“Not when you’ve been up since two in the morning.” Gunn responds dismissively, returning his shot glass to the surface of the mini-bar. Jimmy continues his staring contest with the contents of the glass for a few more seconds before throwing it back as well.

 

It had taken a little longer than the promised ten minutes that ‘Deacon’ had given her before Serena hears the door open on the prisoner side of the room and a moment later Nathan Lehane sits down on the other side of the booth and picks the phone off the cradle fastened to the wall, and she mirrors his actions on her side.

“Hey ‘Rena.” Nathan’s voice comes through the phone. “Faith and Foley couldn’t make it?”

“They’re in Vegas on O’Connor’s dime.” Serena answers. “I decided to come and see you on my own. So how have you been?”

“Not too bad, considering.” Nathan shrugs, casting a long look at Serena. “You’ve looked better.” He comments as an afterthought.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks.” Serena admits sullenly. “Purity has come to Boston.”

“Those assholes who killed Sarah and Trent are back?” Nathan exclaims angrily and then calms himself after a guard calls over, waving him off impatiently. He lowers his voice enough so that only his sister can hear his next words. “You need to not be anywhere by yourself until they have been taken care of. And as much as I appreciate you making the time to come see me, don’t come alone next time. It isn’t safe.”

“I can take care of myself Nate.” Serena insists, glaring through the viewing window at Faith’s twin.

“I’m not saying you can’t ‘Rena, but so could Sarah and Trent.” Nathan reminds her, and her defiant expression fades. “I’m just tired of losing family, you an’ Faith are all I got left and I want to have something to come back to when I get out of here. Please Serena, don’t risk it.”

“I won’t.” Serena finally promises, pressing her left hand against the glass and Nathan mirrors her on his end.

After a few moments both Lehanes pull their hands back and Nathan speaks again.

“So what did you come to talk about? I assume it was urgent enough that you couldn’t wait for Faith to get back at least.”

“I need a reason to come see you?” Serena questions with a mischievous look on her face, her previous tension mostly gone for the moment at least.

“Not at all, but what made you come a week early?”

“I just started seeing a psychiatrist and she suggested that I come to see you on my own.” Serena replies, and starts telling her brother about the events that had transpired two weeks earlier in hushed tones.

 

In Vegas, James and Faith were passing the time by just walking the strip and taking in the sights of the city. It was about three in the afternoon that they passed a novelty shop with a bunch of old casino props, the life-size crystalline wolf on display in the bay window catching the eye of Faith, who immediately wanted it for the lobby of Tainted Ink.

The two had gone in and ten minutes later, with the envelope of money considerably lighter, emerged from the shop with arrangements for the statue to be express-mailed back to Boston.

 

Xander looks up from where he is changing the oil on Liam’s Cadillac as the rumble of an engine draws closer and sees a young blonde woman pull her Honda Accord to a stop in the circular driveway outside of the vampire’s estate. He grabs the grease towel from where its draped over the side of the open hood and rubs the grime off his hands as best he can as he starts towards the woman as she disembarks from the car.

“Can I help you?” He calls out to the newcomer who jerks her head in his direction, obviously having not seen him.

“This is Liam O’Connor’s residence right?” the woman inquires.

“It is, but Mr. O’Connor is not present at the moment.” Xander replies, tossing the rag back in the direction of the Cadillac. “He left an hour ago to attend to some business in the city.”

“Perfect.” The woman mutters. “Could you please tell him that Erica Summers is looking for him.”

“Unfortunately, I do not believe that Liam will be returning here until Monday.” Xander says apologetically. “He said he was going to Nantucket for the weekend after he concluded his business.”

“Figures.” Erica murmurs, turning to get back into her car.

“Hey, wait.” Xander calls out, stopping her. “If you can give me about fifteen minutes to finish up here, I can drive you to him.”

“I have a car.” Erica says, and Xander chuckles. 

“I mean you can follow me, I got a motorcycle.” Xander amends, indicating the Harley parked a few yards away on the side of the driveway.

“Yeah, alright.” Erica agrees after a moment, having decided that Xander had no ill intentions toward her.

“Excellent, I just need to cap off the oil filter and check the tires and we can go.” Xander says before turning back to the Cadillac to finish his work as Erica gets into her own car and turns on the radio to pass the time.

 

“WAKE UP!!” JT’s head shoots up off his desk at the loud yell of Pike into his ear and he looks around wildly for a moment or two before awareness sets in and he sees Pike standing next to him laughing heartily. A look past Pike shows David Penn and Robin Wood also chuckling just outside the ‘office’.

“Works like a charm every time.” Pike comments as he glances back at the other two.

“Yeah, yeah.” JT complains tiredly. “Go tally it to the scoreboard and let me fuckin’ sleep.”

“Can’t.” Robin tells him as he and Penn start walking away. “Agent Stein wants everyone on the Purity case down at the bookstore that got bombed, he thinks he might be able to find something that we missed in the initial search.”

“Ain’t that just like the FBI.” JT mutters, pulling himself out of his slouch and into a standing position.

“Another late night?” Pike inquires curiously.

“Niki is convinced that the twins will shift for the first time any minute these days, and wants both of us to be present to ease any fear they might have.”

“Well with the way things were looking at the Blood Moon party, I’m shocked they haven’t yet.’ Pike replies, pulling JT’s jacket off the back of the door and tossing it to him.

“Niki would know better than me.” JT says with a shrug as he puts on the coat.

“Did you warn Serena about what Stein said?”

“I called, but she didn’t answer her cell. I’ll try again on the way to the bookstore.” JT answers, checking his own cell to see if she called back, but finding no one has called.

“Let’s get outta here then.” Pike suggests, before turning and exiting the office, JT following behind after grabbing his gun and securing it in his holster.

 

The door to Purgatory opens and a long haired Caucasian man with long dark hair enters and walks across the mostly empty barroom to where Doyle is standing behind the bar, cleaning off a couple glasses. Doyle gives the man a brief nod of acknowledgement as he approaches and puts the glass back down onto the counter.

“Craven.” Is Doyle’s short greeting.

“Doyle.” The man, Darius Craven, replies with his own nod. “I’m looking for Foley.”

“Well you’re going to have to wait a couple days.” Doyle informs the Raven Heart clan alpha. “James an’ Faith went to Vegas and won’t be back ‘til Monday.”

“Shit. Well pass this along to him for me wouldya?” Darius requests, pulling an envelope from his jacket and handing it across the bar to Doyle. “It’s his cut of the drug profits for the last two weeks.”

Doyle takes the envelope and places it into the drawer under the bar, sliding it shut and locked before facing Darius once more.

“So you heading back out to Worcester tonight?” Doyle inquires conversationally as he picks up another glass and begins to clean it.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Craven answers with a shrug. “Figured I’d crash at the stash house, head out in the morning. Why, you got some action tonight?”

“Poker game, five hundred buy in and our sixth cancelled. You interested?”

“Yeah, actually.” Darius agrees. “What time?”

“Nine tonight.”

“Who else you got playing?”

“Jesse McNally, Gio Corwin, Gwen Raiden and Violet MacKenzie”

“Good group o’ people.” Darius comments, taking a quick glance around the room. “I also came by to apologize, I heard that a few of my crew were causing trouble out here end of last month.”

Doyle waves his hand dismissively. “Nah, no harm done. I’ve had rowdier humans in here anyway.”

“I appreciate it. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Aye.” Doyle nods his head as Darius turns and head for the exit.

 

It had been about an hour since the meeting with Liam, and the two homicide detectives were seated at the bar, William off at the end of it in a conversation with Bethany while Jimmy sits in the middle, nursing a beer with a thoughtful look on his face. After a moment Jimmy turns to where his partner stands and sees Bethany nod at something that is said, before she starts walking over to him.

“Come with me.” She says, offering her hand. Jimmy takes it and allows her to pull him along towards the private rooms after a glance and nod from William. No more than a minute passes after Bethany shuts the door behind them does the front door to the club open and Xander walks in, followed by Erica. 

“Harris.” William acknowledges the moonchild with a nod.

“Will.” Xander intones back. “Liam around?”

“Yeah, he’s up in his office.” William replies, glancing at Erica. “Why?”

“Because I want to know what the fuck kind of game he thinks he’s playing with me and my sister!” Erica snarls heatedly, earning twin looks of confusion from vampire and wolf. Cassie also looks over from where she is cleaning a table, a look of concern on her face.

“Who’s your sister?” William asks, attempting to placate the angry blonde woman.

“Elizabeth Summers, we both work at his casino, and as I’m fairly certain I got a bump up was a way for him to get into her pants.” Erica replies, still incensed. “If that’s the case, he can take the primetime gig and shove it up his undead ass!”

By now the commotion in the public area of the club has attracted the attention of Liam, Gunn and Willow, who come out onto the second floor balcony in time for Erica’s threat.

“Well, this is rather uncomfortable.” Liam says from where he stands between the other two, looking down. Erica, Xander and William all turn to meet his gaze, and Erica’s eyes narrow. “Perhaps we could take this into a more private place?” Liam says before Erica can continue her tirade, beckoning for her to join him upstairs.

Erica sets into motion immediately, striding towards the staircase, with Xander remaining at the bar. She makes her way up and allows herself to be ushered into Liam’s office, where Gunn closes the door behind her, both he and Willow remaining outside the room.

“I’m gathering you have issues with my dating your sister.” Liam remarks as he takes a seat behind his desk, motioning for his guest to sit as well.

“She isn’t a part of your world, hell she doesn’t even know about it.” Erica tells him, struggling to calm herself.

“But you know of us. May I inquire as to how that came to be?” the vampire godfather asks.

“I went to UCLA, my roommate was a moonchild, and my Mythology professor was one of yours.”

“Fascinating. That wouldn’t have been Dr. Phillip Gregory would it?” Liam asks, receiving a nod from Erica a moment later. “Good man, that one. Respectable. I need to know that you are not going to be a problem, regardless of whatever may happen between me and your sister, who I assure you I harbor no ill-intent towards.”

“I’ve already had this speech, and I have kept my mouth shut about it for five years.” Erica informs him. “If I hadn’t she’d have been the first I’d have told. Phillip told me it was best to keep her out, if only for her own safety. So I did. But now it’s you drawing her into this.”

“There is no danger to your sister, I do not intend to turn her.” Liam assures her. “You have my word on that.”  
“That she be left out is all I ask. She doesn’t need the stress that comes with knowing.” Erica finally has calmed herself, and now looks slightly contrite. “I’m just gonna go.” She says, standing abruptly and making for the door.

“My office is always open, Ms. Summers.” Liam says as she goes, causing her to pause as she opens the door.

“Treat her right.” She says, then leaves the room, passing Gunn and Willow as she retraces her steps back down to the main area of the club. She comes back down to the first level and spots Xander now sitting at the bar and talking with Cassie. He turns to face her as she approaches, and gives her a nod.

“Did you do what you needed to do?” the wolf asks, and she gives a quick nod.

“Thank you for helping me out. If there’s anything I can do to pay you-” she is cut off by Xander.

“How about a movie?” he asks abruptly and she looks at him for a moment in silence before opening her mouth again.

“Why the hell not?” she says, a smile forming on her face. Maybe this day could be saved after all. “I gotta get back to work though, so let me give you my number.”

They remain at the bar for a few more minutes, as Cassie retrieves a pen for Xander and then Erica gives him the number. The two are on their way out as Jimmy and Bethany emerge from the private rooms, the detective catching sight of the back of the departing Erica and a brief expression of concern comes over his face.

“Alright Jim?” William asks, tipping back the last of his beer. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jimmy shrugs, pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind. “We should get out of here soon.”

“One more beer, then we’ll go.” William agrees, patting the bar. “Cass! Two more glasses, thanks love.”

 

Wesley stands on the sidewalk in front of the burnt out shell of what used to be Jenny’s Occult Books on Newbury Street, giving a nod as Penn and Tara pull up in Penn’s old Caddy. The two are walking up to meet Wesley when JT and Pike also pull up and JT parks the cruiser behind Penn’s car and get out as well.

“Where’s the feds?” Pike inquires, his scan of the area telling him that the five of them were alone on the scene.

“Robin’s stalling them at the precinct so that we could take a final look around before they seal it off.” Penn informs the group. “Liam wants to make sure that there isn’t any evidence left behind that could threaten the secret.”

“What’s he think the human feds might find here that we missed before?” JT asks.

“Jenny came by yesterday to take custody of the few items that weren’t destroyed in the blast, and after sifting through the remains of the debris we collected, she realized that the ledger was not there.” Wesley answers, reaching out and pushing the door open.

“So, she loses out on a couple of tax breaks, what’s it got to do with us?” Pike questions.

“There’s information in it that could be severely damaging to all of us.” Wesley replies. “All of Jennifer’s dealings, both legit and less than were recorded in it. That includes any jobs pulled by your clan on her dime.”

“Why in the hell would she keep it here?” JT questions dubiously. “Especially with her suspicions prior to the bombing.”

“I don’t know, but as it stands she did for whatever reason. Now we just hope it was either destroyed in the blast or we find it.”

“And if someone else has it?” Tara inquires, speaking up for the first time.

Wesley casts the vampiress a troubled look before replying. “Then we’re all royally fucked.”

 

Maggie Walsh had a sinister smile on her face as she stared down at the half burned ledger that she’d had Percy and Finn retrieve from the bookstore they’d blown up fourteen days earlier. The smile would have widened further if possible as she took in the contents of a mostly unburned page towards the end of the book, and she let out an insane cackle of glee at the information she now had.

“Finn!” she calls out from her seat behind a mahogany desk and waits a few moments in silence before the former Iowan soldier enters and close the door behind him.

“Dr. Walsh?” Finn inquires, looking across the room at her. “Did you get what you needed to out of the book?”

“That and much, much more Mr. Finn.” Maggie gloats, her eyes alight with manic pleasure. “We have a new target.”

“I’m ready whenever you need me to be ma’am.”

“Patience Riley, I need a couple of days to get everything in order, then we will strike our enemies down.”

 

As promised, Lindsey MacDonald had a car waiting for James and Faith outside the Bellagio when the pair of moonchildren came out the front doors just past seven that night. A short ride later the two Bostonians disembark once more and make their way into Giovanni’s and up to the hostess.

“Table for two?” She inquires, a somewhat distasteful look on her face as she takes in their attire.

“We’re here to meet with Lindsey MacDonald.” Faith informs the other woman, meeting the look of disdain with a glare.

“I somehow doubt that.” The hostess scoffs, motioning one of the security guys over. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to request you leave this establishment, Hector if you would please escort these two out.”

The security guy, Hector gives a short nod, then takes in the faces of James and Faith and pales.

“My apologies Mr. Foley, Miss Lehane. The boss has been expecting you.” Hector says, throwing a glare at the hostess, who withers under the hard gaze of the Hispanic vampire. “If you’ll follow me, he’s in the back dining room.”

The two moonchildren nod, and follow after Hector, Faith pausing for a second to throw a smug look at the hostess. Hector leads them through the main dining room, and then down a short hallway to the rear dining room, which is mostly empty except for three vampires, two male and a female, seated at a table in the middle of the room, and a female moonchild behind the bar off to the side of the room. Hector gives a short nod to James before turning and heading back to the front to stand guard.

James takes hold of Faith’s left hand in his right and leads her over to the table where the three vampires are sitting, moving to stand in front of the vacant side of the table.

“I’m hoping you had a reason for summoning us here.” James comments as the three vampires regard him, one of the males holding a cell phone to his ear.

“Have a seat.” The Asian vampire says, motioning with his right hand somewhat dismissively. Both James and Faith reluctantly take a seat as Lindsey finishes whatever business he has with the person on the other end of the call he is taking.

“I’m taking care of the situation as we speak in fact.” Lindsey speaks into the receiver then falls silent for a few moments as the other party responds. “Yes, that’s fine. I’ll see you in two weeks. Salut.”The Los Vegas vampire godfather sets his cell down on the surface of the table before regarding the two Bostonians.

“My apologies for dragging you both away from your vacation.” Lindsey intones, sounding half sincere. 

“What do you want from us then?” Faith demands boldly, earning a glare from the blonde to Lindsey’s left and a couple words of admonishment from the Asian.

“Watch your tongue mutt.” Gavin Park sneers, both he and James beginning to stand, but Lindsey puts a restraining hand on Gavin’s shoulder in a silent order to stand down. James settles back into his own seat a moment later, but remaining ready for a possible attack.

“You must forgive my associate. His past encounters with your kind have been, shall we say, less than pleasant.” Lindsey comments.

“Can’t understand why, he’s such a charmer.” Faith responds sarcastically, glaring at the Asian.

“Indeed.” Lindsey agrees dryly. “I’ll get down to business then. One of my captains has gotten too greedy for his own good and has been in contact with a tribe from Northern Mexico. He plans to take command of that tribe and use them to overthrow my empire. Naturally you can understand that I cannot allow this to happen.”

“So wax the fuck, how is this our problem?” James asks, pressing for more information.

“Regrettably I am unable to outright kill deMarco myself or I would, you know how  
vampire politics are, yes?”

“We know enough.” Faith responds vaguely, and Lindsey nods.

“As Gavin here, deMarco’s experience with moonchildren has not be great either, and he has a fair few of them out for his blood.” Lindsey informs the two. “There’s seventy-five grand if you choose to make it your problem.”

Both wolves remain silent for a few moments, before James speaks again.

“I assume you have someone in mind to take the fall then.” He intones, not really asking it as a question but as an assumption of fact.

“Neither of you will ever even be considered as a suspect.” Anne replies for the vampires. “We have been planning this hit for two months now and have every angle covered.”

“When and where?” Faith asks after a brief silence. Lindsey grins.

 

Elizabeth had a bright smile on her face as she leaned against the railing at the front of the yacht, looking out over the endless blue of the ocean. It had been a long time since she’d been out here, her work kept her busy for the most part and when she had free time, she’d spend it with her sister.

“Beautiful, aye?” Liam’s now familiar voice says from behind her and she turns to face him.

“Yeah, it is.” She answers with a smile. “Thank you for inviting me along.”

“But I didn’t, Giles did.” Liam teases lightly, and Elizabeth shakes her head.

“Oh, but I’m sure you had nothing to do in influencing his decision to ask me.” she teases right back.

“I might have said something or other.” He admits casually. “I like to keep an eye on all my staff, regardless of ranking, and I’ve noticed your efforts over the past few weeks. Thought you might need a break.”

“I appreciate it, haven’t been out on the ocean for years.” she says, glancing away for a moment to look back out across the water.

“It is something that always stays with you.” Liam remarks, his eyes remaining on her for a few moments longer before joining hers to look out at the sea.

 

Erica pulls into the small parking lot in front of her apartment building, parking her car in her normal spot before disembarking. She quickly climbs the staircase to the second floor, grabbing her mail from the box next to her door and then letting herself in. She drops the mail onto the counter in her kitchen and pulls open the refrigerator. Taking the two day old Lasagna out and putting it into the microwave, she notices a shadow outside her window that seems to be stationary.

Acting quickly she grabs the 9mm from where she’d hidden it under the sink and flicks off the safety before making her way back over to the front door. Taking a few deep breaths she yanks open the door with her gun raised, only to let out a small shriek of surprise mirrored by the person standing outside. 

“Jesus Erica, you scared the shit out of me.” Jimmy says, reaching out and carefully pushing the gun downwards away from him. Erica throws him a glare as she turns the safety back on and shoves the gun into the back waistband of her pants.

“Serves you right, lurking outside my apartment at eleven at night.” the blond counters. “What are you doing here anyways?”

“I saw you at Scarlet Rain earlier, and I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

“Of course I’m alright, why would I-” Erica cuts herself off as realization hits her. “You know?” 

“Found out last month.” Jimmy informs her. “You’re taking it rather well.”

“I knew years ago Jimmy.” Erica says, turning to go back inside. “Ever since my second semester at UCLA.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Jimmy asks her. “We’re family, you could have trusted me.”

“Could I? Jim, at that point in time I didn’t know who I could trust. Elizabeth doesn’t know either.” Erica looks at her cousin warily. “I didn’t say anything all this time because I was asked not to. At the time it was in my best interests to agree.”

“And now you’re having second thoughts.” Jimmy questions, meeting his younger cousin’s gaze.

“Not about knowing the big secret.” Erica answers. “About convincing Elizabeth to come back to Boston. She’s gotten involved in something with Liam O’Connor and I’m worried. That’s why I was at the club, I was confronting him about it.”

“Wait, Liz is involved with a vampire?!” Jimmy exclaims, the volume of his voice sparking Erica into action as she clamps her hand over his mouth.

“First of all, don’t ever yell that goddamn word again in here. I don’t need the scrutiny from my neighbors. Second, yes she is. Third, no she isn’t going to find out from either of us.”

“But-” Jimmy starts as Erica removes her hand.

“No Jim. I will not let my sister be brought into this under these circumstances.” Erica states resolutely. “It’s not your place.”

“So then what, we just let them take her as one of theirs?” the homicide detective asks after a moment.

“Elizabeth isn’t going to be turned.” Erica tells him. “Liam gave me his word.”

“And you believe him?”

“I have no choice but to.” the blond answers. “They hold all the cards here, we’re just the pawns.”

Jimmy has no response to her statement.

 

Vi let out a cackle of glee as she pulled yet another large pile of chips from the center of the table, her straight beating Darius’ three of a kind.

“Since I’ve been on such a roll tonight, I’ll give a free tattoo to whoever wins the next hand.” the redhead moonchild offers, glancing around the table at the other players.

“Just deal the cards already.” Gwen Raiden grouses as she looks down at her meager pile of remaining chips.

“Fine, fine.” Vi shuffles the deck and begins tossing out the cards for the next hand. She takes a look at her own cards and grimaces silently.

“Looks like you’ll have extra work tommorrow.” Gio says as he catches her subtle expression.

“Worse things have happened.” Vi replies with a shrug as the bets for the hand are made and both Doyle and Jesse fold on the blinds. “Sides, still anyone’s game.”

The hand continued with the river cards being flipped over and the folding of Gwen and Darius. Vi and Gio stared at each other from across the table, neither giving anything up as they placed their final bets for the hand.

“Full house, nines and queens.” Vi reveals her cards first, then frowns as Gio flips over a full house as well with aces over tens.

“I believe these are mine.” Gio chuckles as he pulls the pile of chips over to his corner. “What time should I come by the shop?”

“Anytime in the afternoon. I’m pulling a double-shift so come by around 3.” Vi says to the African vampire.

“I’ll be there.” Gio promises, looking down at his watch. “And on that note, I think we need to call this game in. I got business in a half hour on the other side of the city.”

“Yeah, I should probably get back to the stash-house, make sure the guys aren’t getting to lax on the job.” Darius agrees, standing from his seat, and effectively ending the four hour game. “Next time you guys need a stand in, give me a ring.”

Doyle also stands. “I’ll walk you out, there was something I needed to discuss with you earlier anyways.”

The other four players gather up their belongings as Darius and Doyle walk out.

“I’ll be by around four on Monday.” Gio calls out to Vi as she and Jesse are heading for the door, Gwen in front of them by a few feet.

“Be still my beating heart.” Vi snarks over her shoulder as she exits the back room of the bar.

 

Veruca and Oz sat in his van across the street from Jill’s diner (the same one that Elizabeth and Erica were at from the last episode), watching out the windshield intensely. After a few moments Veruca speaks out.

“That’s him.” She points out Percy West, who is making his way up the street to go into the diner. “He was one of the ones who was around when my sister got shot, his hair is a bit longer, but I’d never mistake the face of that son of a bitch.”

“So how do you want to play this then?” Oz says, watching as well as Percy pulls the door to the diner open and goes in. 

“Same way I always do, without hesitation.” Veruca replies, opening the passenger door and getting out of the van. Oz watches as she crosses the street and enters the diner before turning the van on and driving away.

Inside the diner, Veruca walks up to where Percy is seated at a booth and stands in front of him, eluding an air of faux-nervousness. 

“Are you Percy West?” she asks, making her eyes look hopeful.

“Yeah, who wants to know?” he replies, looking at her intently.

“Oh thank god.” She says, plopping herself down in the seat opposite Percy. “I’m Andrea Collins. Warren Meers sent me here to find you.”

“Warren went missing two weeks ago.” Percy tells her suspiciously, and she nods, giving him a sad look.

“I know, they killed him.” she tells him softly, turning to look around the diner briefly at his look of surprise. 

“Who killed Warren?” Percy demands after recovering from the news, and leans across the table.

“The wolves.” Veruca whispers back. “They’d have killed me too, but Warren saved me by letting them catch up to him.”

“Jesus. How long ago?”

“Just over twelve days ago. They took us at a farm in south Jersey, and were gonna execute both of us. Warren managed to get a hold of one of the guns, then shot the guy who came to do it.” ‘Andrea’ recounts with tears in her eyes. “We got to the edge of the farm before they came after us. We made it to a river, and Warren threw me in before the wolves were on him. I floated a few miles down stream and then got picked up on the side of a nearby highway. Hitch-hiked up into northern New York, through Vermont and New Hampshire before coming down to find you, just in case they were following me.”

“Damn. Maggie’s going to want to know about this.” Percy says, pulling his cell phone out and quickly dialling a number. After a couple moments he speaks again. “Maggie, it’s Percy. Listen, I just got confirmation that Warren was killed. He and this girl Andrea got caught by the wolves.” he pauses for a moment as Maggie responds on the other end. 

“Andrea is here, Warren saved her before he was killed.” he says a moment later, then pauses again briefly. “Yeah, alright. I’ll bring her to meet with you.”

Veruca/Andrea grins internally as everything falls into her favor.

 

Lee DeMarco hummed a tune to himself as he strolled down the moonlit path in the woods of Floyd Lamb Park in the Northwest Corner of Los Vegas, his thoughts on his soon to occur promotion as Lindsey and those loyal to him were purged from the city, leaving him the ranking member and the throne all his.

So wrapped up in his self-importance, he doesn’t realize that he’s being followed until both wolves are upon him. Lee lets out a bloodcurdling scream heard by only the three as wolf-Faith pounces on his back and buries her canines into his shoulder. Wolf James joins a second later, his teeth clamping down on the neck of the struggling vampire, ripping into the flesh and muscle. 

Within moments the ordeal is over. DeMarco lays motionless on the ground, his body torn and blood staining the grass and dirt around his body as the two wolves share a look. They let out a howl as one and then race off deeper into the woods of the park.

 

Having opted to spend the night at the Marriot on Nantucket before heading out to view Russell Thorpe’s beach property, the group of Liam, Elizabeth, Giles, Gunn, Dawn, Wilkins and Holland were now en-rout to said location in a rented limousine. About twenty minutes after departing from the hotel, the limo pulled to a stop at the end of a winding road, the beach all that remains ahead of them. The seven Bostonians get out of the limo and make their way down the rest of the road and onto the narrow dirt path leading between the sand-dunes, passing the brand new Cadillac parked in front of the limo.

Moments later the group reaches the end of the dirt path and spot Russell and a blonde woman coming towards them from the east. The two groups meet up in the middle.

“So this is it then?” Liam asks Russell as the others survey the area, and the Nantucket vampire nods.

“Thirty acres of land to start, and another sixty if the expansion to your casino is successful.” Russell intones.

“That wasn’t the agreement Thorpe.” Wilkins speaks up, sending a less-than-pleased look at the other man.

“I’m being investigated by the FBI, I cannot just sell off my entire estate while I’m still in the country. It would raise too many red flags, I’m sure you understand.” Russell replies. “It wasn’t exactly something I wanted to discuss over the phone.”

“You never did say where you intended to go.” Liam remarks, casting a glance over to where Elizabeth is looking around with Giles and Dawn, and looks satisfied that she is far enough away to not hear the conversation.

“Dublin for a time I think, then Amsterdam to visit my sister’s tribe.” Thorpe replies. “Eve will accompany me to Ireland, and return here when I move on.” 

“In that case, you have a place in the Hub tribe when you return, should you want it.” Liam offers, turning to face the blonde.

“We’ll cross that bridge when it happens.” The blonde say crisply, but with an appreciative tone to her voice. “So what do you think then?”

Liam takes another look around the area, before giving a nod. “It’s doable. I can have a team out here on Wednesday to start appraisals.”

“I’ll be awaiting them.” Russell states, turning to look at a passing boat. “Why don’t we take this party back to my home, we can speak more freely there.”

“Lead the way.” Liam agrees, motioning for Giles and Dawn to bring Elizabeth back over to them before the group returns back to their vehicles and get in to drive to the Thorpe house.

 

Faith leaned over and pulled James into a searing kiss as he parked the car in front of the tattoo shop, the two having returned from Vegas two hours previously, having decided to cut the trip short after they executed DeMarco.

“I’ll be back around five to pick you and Serena up.” James says when the two finally break apart for air.

“Alright, feel like getting some takeout after?” Faith questions. “I’m craving some Chinese.”

“I’ll pick some up on my way back.” James promises as Faith opens the passenger door and gets out. “See you in a few hours. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Faith leans into the car one more time to meet James for a quick kiss before backing out and shutting the door. James watches as she walks the few feet to the front door and disappears inside, then turns the car back on and backs out of the parking space, then drives back out on the road.

A couple minutes pass and then a black van (the same one that was seen at the end of the Pilot) drives past the shop and parks on the other side of the street.

 

Faith lets out an excited whoop as she sees the large crate in the center of the lobby, postmarked from Vegas. She walks past the crate and towards the back, stopping in front of one of the tattoo rooms when she sees Vi working on Gio.

“You lost at poker again, didn’t you?” Faith asks teasingly, the redhead poking her tongue out in response. At that moment, Serena and Oz emerge from the back room of the shop.

“Hey boss.” Oz greets stoically as Serena wraps her older sister in a hug.

“Mind getting the crowbar from the storage room?” Faith asks Oz over Serena’s shoulder and he nods, turning and heading back into the room at the hall’s end.

“So how was Vegas?” Serena asks eagerly as the two sisters leave Vi to her work and walk back into the lobby.

“It was fun.” Faith replies, leaving out the hit. “We found a statue for this place.”

“Is that what that is?” Serena asks, glancing over at the wooden crate. “I was wondering.”

Faith nods, a smile on her face. “I think it’ll fit the theme quite nicely.”

Oz re-appears that moment with crowbar in hand, and passed it to Faith. She walks over and slams the flat end into the side of the box, prying the lid from the top. A few moments later, she disengages the fasteners keeping the crate together and the four sides fall to the sides, revealing the crystal wolf statue.

“Wow, that’s so beautiful.” Serena says in awe as she moves in closer to examine the facsimile of their natural form. Oz nods his agreement, then moves over to the other side of the room to answer his cell as it begins ringing.

“Hello?” he says into the phone. “Whoa, slow down Veruca. What?! When?”

Faith and Serena turn from the statue to look at Oz, who now has a stressed out look on his face.

“What?” Serena asks, seeing the look on her clansmate’s face.

“Veruca got her in with Purity, and just found out something is going down today.” He tells the two sisters. “She’s not sure of all the details, but it’s big. I think we should-”

Whatever Oz is about to suggest is interrupted by a loud sound of Clink , and the three turn to see a bullet hole in the middle of the crystal wolf’s front right leg. The crystal spiderweb cracks and shatters a moment later, sending the off balance statue crashing sideways to crash on the floor where it shatters into a thousand pieces.

Faith has enough presence of mind to realize what is happening, just as the large glass window in the front of the shop explodes inward at her, Serena and Oz as it comes under fire by a volley of bullets.

end of episode.

Special Note: All of the canon characters are played by the normal actors, except for Pike who I imagine being portrayed as Callum Blue [Dead Like Me, Smallville].  
Here’s a list of actors/actresses portraying the OC’s: (Move to bottom upon completion)

Main Billed  
James Foley: Norman Reedus [Boondock Saints]  
Jimmy Halloran: Cole Hauser [Dazed and Confused, Pitch Black]  
Erica Summers: Emily Van Camp [Revenge]  
Serena Lehane: Katharine Isabelle [Ginger Snaps, Supernatural]  
JT Sullivan: Ben Cotton [Harper’s Island]

Recurring  
Niki Sullivan: Nicki Aycox [Dark Blue, Animals]  
Dante Baldwin: John Glover [Smallville]  
Paul Stein: Wood Harris [The Wire, Lost] 

Guest Starring  
Darius Craven: Skeet Urich [Scream, Jericho]  
Nathan Lehane: Kris Lemche [Final Destination 3, Ginger Snaps]  
Sarah Lehane: Lindy Booth [Dawn of the Dead, Cry Wolf]  
Trent Lehane: Edward Furlong [Terminator 2, Crow: Wicked Prayer] 

 

A/N: This has been at twenty three pages since early November, and I finally beat my ass of a muse into giving up the final nine pages. Hope you’ve enjoyed my drivel this time around, and as always, Until next time much Love from the Stoner Guru.  
3\. Blood Vengeance  
Disclaimer: Still own nothing recognizable. I also harbor no ill-will towards the gay community, so if anyone is offended by some of the language in this fic, I apologize. I simply am trying to keep the story true to it’s Boston setting.

Special thanks to DofEire, SailorPikaAngel and fansick for their reviews.

Added Warning: Graphic Violence in this chapter.

The Hub  
Season One, Episode Three - “Blood Vengeance” 

Start Episode

Previously on the Hub  
Faith and Serena turn from the statue to look at Oz, who now has a stressed out look on his face.

“What?” Serena asks, seeing the look on her clansmate’s face.

“Veruca got her in with Purity, and just found out something is going down today.” He tells the two sisters. “She’s not sure of all the details, but it’s big. I think we should-”

Whatever Oz is about to suggest is interrupted by a loud sound ofClink!, and the three turn to see a bullet hole in the middle of the crystal wolf’s front right leg. The crystal spiderweb cracks and shatters a moment later, sending the off balance statue crashing sideways to crash on the floor where it shatters into a thousand pieces.

Faith has enough presence of mind to realize what is happening, just as the large glass window in the front of the shop explodes inward at her, Serena and Oz as it comes under fire by a volley of bullets.

One hour later

Special Agent Paul Stein stands outside Tainted Ink, looking at the damages caused by gunfire. Corbin Fries and Adam Knox stand a few feet away talking with one of the employees of the shop, the only one that wasn’t hit by the spray of bullets. Taking a brief look down at the covered body laying in the middle of the lobby, he shakes his head regretfully and then turns and walks over to the employee.

“Mr. Osbourne, we’re just trying to help get justice for your friend.” Knox is saying to the survivor, who has blood splattered on the front of his vintage AC/DC shirt.

“Look, I’d love to help you if I could, but I was kind of busy trying not to get shot to get a good look at the four that did it.” Oz snaps at the agent, his eyes locked on the covered body.

“This was not a random hit.” Stein says, as he reaches the small group. “Two of the victims who were here are directly related to past victims of the cult.”

“It was Purity then?” Fries questions, an ill look on his face.

“Officer Sullivan revealed no less than three days ago the connection between the Philadelphia victims and the Lehane sisters, who have now also been attacked. Either the universe has it in for that family or we have a mole.”

“Well, then you need to find out who it is, and I‘m thinking sooner than later.” the moonchild says. “We were all targets, there was no collateral in this. Purity wanted to send a message, and they goddamn well did.”

+++++++++

James’ motorcycle roared to a stop in front of the Umass Memorial Hospital, and he jumped off even before the wheels stopped turning, letting the motorcycle fall onto it’s side as he rushed into the lobby of the emergency room. He quickly rushed through the swinging doors, pointedly ignoring the calls from the two attendants at the counter as he stormed down the adjacent corridor and up to the checkpoint to the private ward for the supernatural citizens of the city. He is met by Winifred Burkle and Cordelia Chase as they have anticipated his arrival.

“Where are they?” The alpha of the Blood Clover clan demands, the two vampires sharing a brief look before Fred speaks.

“Serena and Vi are fine, they only had flesh wounds and are in a private room getting some sleep. We had to put Serena under when.. Uh..” Fred trails off uncomfortably, and James eyes widen in horror.

“Where’s Faith?!” His voice trembles with both barely suppressed rage and unbridled fear.

“She’s in surgery and at the moment her chances are good that she’ll pull through, we’ve had worse in the past.” Cordelia says, casting a quick look at Fred before turning sad eyes back at the wolf. “James, I’m so sorry, but the baby is gone.”

 

(Insert credits for the Hub here.)

 

Liam had hired a private plane back into Boston for his group, citing to Elizabeth there was a death in his family and they needed to cut the trip short. Elizabeth had understood completely and he’d had Gunn make a stop to drop her off at her apartment before driving to the hospital, with the two of them, Dawn and Giles still in the town car. 

Gunn had taken the first parking space available in the garage and then the four swiftly made their way into the main part of the hospital, spotting James just as he gets the news from Cordy and Fred. Liam catches the flare in the eyes of the moonchild alpha, and quickly announces his presence.

“Foley.” He speaks out, needing to make sure that the other man is coherent enough to not make any rash decisions that would affect the secret. “You need to remain calm, and we need to take this somewhere less open to unwanted eavesdroppers.”

James throws a hard glare at the godfather of the Hub tribe, but nods his agreement nonetheless. 

“I’m not going to do anything without thinking it through, but I promise you that anyone who had anything to do with this is going to die.” the wolf snarls, “I’m invoking Blood Vengeance, as that of my line has been spilled.”

“That’s perfectly acceptable, I’d have expected nothing less.” Liam agrees without hesitation. “In the meantime, I am going to have several of my people keeping an eye on all the entrances, and at least one posted outside of the Lehanes and MacKenzie’s rooms.”

“I appreciate the guards for the entrances, but my crew will guard our own.” James tells the vampire, who nods his assent swiftly. James turns to face Cordy and Fred once more. “Take me to where Faith is.”

Cordy nods and lead James away from the group, heading deeper into the private ward. Liam, Gunn, Giles, Dawn and Fred.

“This isn’t the end of it.” Dawn remarks. “They’re just getting started.”

“I can get half my crew here in twenty minutes, for guard duty.” Gunn offers, pulling out his cell phone. “They’ll probably want to get some payback for Gio too.”

“Make the call.” Liam says, turning away and following after Cordy and James.

 

Doyle, Jesse, Xander and Niki with the kids showed up at the hospital about the same time, meeting up on the street and making their way inside the main lobby and following James’ earlier route. By now most of the remainder of the Blood Clover clan, as well as a number of their vampire allies have arrived. JT makes his way over to meet his wife and kids from where he’d been talking with Pike, William and Oz. Aura and Nina sit side by side on one of the plastic benches, the pair leaning against one another for comfort, with Cassie leaning against the wall opposite them, a lit cigarette in her hand that she takes a drag from as the four pass her. Darius Craven nods to Doyle as he speaks in hushed tones over the cell phone held up to his ear, Willow, Dawn and Gwen standing nearby as well, speaking amongst themselves. Liam stands down the far end of the corridor, Gunn at his side as he addresses Rondell and the other members of Gunn’s crew about what he needed them to do. Cordelia walks up to Doyle as she spots him, pulling him off to the side to talk privately. It was clear that the supernatural community stood united in the wake of this latest tragedy.

Jesse and Xander walked up to James as he emerged from the back corridor and back into the lobby where the rest had congregated.

“Whatever you need boss, say the word and it’s done.” Xander announces, both he and Jesse taking in the stricken look on the face of their alpha, who nods mutely.

“Serena and Vi are fine aside from a few cuts and a graze off Vi’s leg from a bullet that punctured through the wall. Faith’s going to be alright, but she lost the baby.” James reveals to his two clansmen, in a choked voice. “Chase and Burkle aren’t too sure how good her chances of being able to conceive again are, but from what I could gather, it isn’t good.”

“Jesus Christ.” Jesse mutters under his breath, looking just as outraged as his best friend. “We gotta send a message back.”

“We will.” Darius says, coming up to the group, his phone conversation apparently concluded. “I’m sending a couple of my boys down to the traffic control center to get the recordings from the traffic cam a half block from Tainted. Hopefully we can get the identities of the shooters from it. How do you plan to handle this?”

“I’ve got a few ideas.” James says, glancing across the room at Oz, and motioning him over. His Beta quickly complies, excusing himself from conversation with Pike and William.

“What do you need me to do?” Oz asks without pause as he comes up to the foursome.

“When Veruca calls to check in, tell her to get the location of the next Purity recruitment meeting.” James instructs. “We’re going to kill every last one of the cocksuckers.”

 

Veruca for her part had the most difficult job, having to maintain her masquerade as Andrea Collins in the aftermath of what had happened to her new friends. She wanted so desperately to just put a bullet in the head of Margaret Walsh, who’d she had come to learn was the woman behind the curtain when it came to Purity. Unfortunately, the initial meeting that Percy had been told to bring her in for had been postponed, and Veruca still hadn’t gotten to meet the good doctor.

Percy had dropped her off at one of the safe-houses, and instructed her to wait for him to either return or contact her before she did anything else, and she’d really had no plans to do anything but.

It wasn’t until several hours following the attack on Faith’s tattoo shop that Percy had finally called, telling her that there was going to be a meet and greet with several of Walsh’s lieutenants, as they brought a few more psychos into their little cult. Veruca told him that she’d meet him there at seven, when the other members would be arriving.

She hung up the phone, replacing the cordless device upon the cradle, and then pulls out her cell phone from the inner pocket of her jacket, quickly scrolling the names and clicking on ‘Oz’. The phone rings a couple times before she hears the other end pick up.

“V?” Oz’s voice comes through the receiver and she holds back a small smile at the familiarity of it.

“Yeah it’s me. I got the info on the meet.” Veruca replies. “It’s going to be tomorrow night at 7 pm, down at the old fisherman’s wharf. I suggest you get there early, I really don’t want to blow my cover in case they aren’t all there.”

“Where are you going to be?” Oz questions, a not so subtle hint of concern in his tone.

“At the wharf with the new recruits, hopefully wrapping this shit up and leaving with you all afterwards.” Veruca replies with an eagerness to end Purity once and for all. “But from experience, it’s never that easy. If I had more time..”

“There isn’t time.” Oz replies shortly, causing Veruca to frown.

“What happened to unnecessary risks? You didn’t even think I should be doing this in the first place.”

“That all went out the window when they shot up Faith and Gio.” the normal reserved man replies with barely concealed fury, and Veruca winces in sympathy.

“So you understand now?” Veruca whispers into the phone after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have warned you guys earlier, but I think they’re watching this place.”

“Don’t blame yourself, it will only draw their suspicion.” he tells her. “We’ll see you tomorrow night.”

Veruca nods to herself, as Oz obviously can’t see her through the phone and speaks once more. “Tomorrow night.” she agrees. “See you then.”

 

Cassie was startled out of her light slumber in the leather chair next to the hospital bed of her best friend, by the chirping sound of said best friend’s cell phone, which lays on the bedside table. Cassie rolls her eyes fondly as Serena simply grunts in her sleep and rolls over to face away from the sound, reaching out her hand to snatch the offending machine. 

She flips open the cell, and holds it up to the side of her face.

“Hello?” she asks, not having recognized the number.

“I’m sorry, I was looking for Serena Lehane. If I have the wrong number-” a woman’s voice says from the other end.

“You got the right number, but I’m afraid Serena isn’t available to come to the phone right now. May I ask who’s calling?” Cassie replies to the unknown woman, keeping her voice low.

“This is India Cohen, Serena’s psychiatrist. I was calling because she missed her appointment today.” India says through the receiver, with a disappointed air to her voice.

“Yeah well, nearly getting shot to death will make people do all sorts of crazy shit. I’ll tell her you called.” Cassie says dryly, then flips the phone shut abruptly ending the call, turning the phone off and tossing it back onto the top of the table. She settles back into the leather chair and watches Serena sleep for a few minutes before returning to her own nap.

 

James stands outside Faith’s room, looking at the closed door with a rare look of indecision on his face. After taking a moment to steel his nerves, he opens the door slowly and enters the sparsely lit room.

“Jamie, izzat youse?” Faith calls out drowsily, still feeling the effects of the drugs in her system from the emergency surgery. It had been nearly ten hours since he’d arrived at the hospital, most of which was spent in the lobby with the others gathered there, awaiting news on the successfulness of the surgery from Chase and Burkle, before he’d finally been allowed to see her. He walks over and reaches out to take her hand in his.

“Yeah Faith, it’s me. I’m here.” He replies, giving her hand a light squeeze to assure himself that she’s okay.

“Gooood.” Faith slurs as the morphine high hits her again, and she giggles. “Missed you.” she says, yawning a moment later. 

“Try and get some sleep. I’m not going anywhere until you’re feeling better.” James promises, leaning down to kiss her forehead, then takes a seat next to her.

“Is Serena okay?” the alpha female questions as she struggles to fight off sleep for a few more moments.

“Serena’s fine, she only had a few surface cuts from the window shards, they gave her a sedative when she heard about the bab-” James cuts himself of at the realization that Faith probably hasn’t been told yet, but she hears and her eyes widen. Her next words however, take him completely off-guard.

“My sister was pregnant?!” the raven haired woman exclaims in as much of a shocked before exhaustion finally takes her and she falls into a deep sleep. James stares down at her with wide eyes and a deeply stricken look on his face once more.

 

Jack O’Toole strides into Purgatory, a stern look on his face as he made his way over to where his clan alpha Darius stood at the bar with Doyle and Jesse. He pulls the backpack off as he reaches the group and lays it on the surface.

“There’s forty five minute copies of all the video surveillance footage from all the traffic cameras within a five block radius of the tattoo shop, from about fifteen minutes before until a half hour after.” Jack informs them. “Hopefully your shooters are identifiable.” 

“It’s something.” Doyle nods as Darius pushes the backpack towards him, which he takes and stuffs under the bar where it will be safe until he can get it to James and, slash or Liam. “The Blood Clovers thank you.” The bartender tells Jack, who gives a stiff nod back.

“D said this shit was absolutely needed, and that was good enough for me.” Jack intones darkly. “If you need an extra guy when you go after these fuckers, let me know.”

“Foley has something in mind, he made that much clear at the hospital.” Jesse agrees, not giving too much away, even though he knows exactly what has been planned for the following night. “When he says it’s on, I’ll give you a call.”

Jack gives another short nod, then turns to regard Darius briefly. “You gonna need a ride back to the stash-house boss?”

“Yeah, might as well.” Darius agrees, standing up from the barstool and to follow Jack. He stops briefly at the door before he leaves, turning back to face the two members of the Blood Clover clan one more time. “Tell James that I’ll be in touch sometime early tomorrow after I meet with a couple people down in Providence about getting some stuff for tomorrow night.”

“Watch your back, we still don’t know who else they’re targeting.”

Darius nods once more, then he too is gone, following Jack out to his car, leaving Jesse and Doyle alone in the bar. After a moment, the older of the two turns to his clans-mate and speaks.

“Go lock the door, we’re not open tonight.” Doyle tells him, and Jesse complies, striding across the open floor towards the entrance.

 

Elizabeth steps off the elevator and into the small grouping of offices that makes up the domain of her boss, Rupert Giles, who she spots almost immediately upon emerging onto the floor. She starts towards him, drawing herself short when she sees he is already in a conversation with Gunn and Rondell, that seems to be a private affair. A few moments later the two other men give nods of agreement, and walk away, passing her as they make their way to the elevator. 

“Ms. Summers, what are you doing back here, you didn’t need to be in again until tomorrow.” Giles says, finally taking notice of her presence, and giving her an affectionate smile at seeing the plate of cookies in her hands.

“I couldn’t sit still.” Elizabeth replies, passing him the plate of cookies. “Those are for you, and Liam if he comes around. I wanted him to know how sorry I was about the loss of his uncle.”

“Yes, it was rather sudden.” Giles agrees, collaborating with the cover story Liam had given her before the group had departed from Nantucket in a rush to get back to Boston. “I’ll make sure he gets these.”

“If there’s anything you need me to do, just let me know, I’ll take the extra hours even.” Elizabeth offers, and Giles nods, sensing she didn’t really have any intentions of leaving easily.

“I suppose that the phones will need answering, regardless of what is going on in the life of our esteemed colleague. Only until Dante takes over the shift in a few hours though” Giles says wryly, and Elizabeth quickly agrees to help out.

“No problem. My sister wanted to meet up after she got off work about the same time, so that works well enough for me.” Elizabeth replies, motioning that she’ll follow after him. “Lead on, boss o’ mine.”

 

“Momma?” Kellie asks, looking up at Niki’s face from where she is sitting atop her lap. Niki looks down into her four year old daughter’s eyes.

“Yeah Kels?” Niki asks, reaching her hand up to rub the back of her daughter’s head, not noticing at first how warm the young girl is.

“Are auntie Faith and Serena and Vee going to be okay?” she asks curiously.

“Yeah baby. Your aunts are going to be just fine, don’t worry about it.” Niki promises, kissing her forehead lightly, pulling away with a dismayed expression on her face. “Kellie you’re burning up, are you feeling alright?”

Kellie stares at her for a moment silently, before shaking her head. “I feel all tingly momma.”

“Shit. JT!” Niki calls out, seeing the first twitches of the change. “Kellie’s shifting!”

JT quickly passes Cole off to Pike as soon as he hears Niki’s outburst, hurrying over as she stands and takes Kellie from her, the two heading towards the back rooms, Pike following with Cole and Niki herself grabbing Cora’s baby carrier as the three head to find a private room for Kellie’s first change.

JT ducks into the first empty room, placing Kellie onto the bed and quickly undressing her so that her wolf form wont shred the clothes. No sooner has he finished does Kellie cry out in pain as her limbs begin lengthening and contorting, and silver fur begins to sprout from her skin, which also hardens. Cole sees the events unfold as he watches from Pike’s arms and begins screaming. He is placed on the other bed a moment later as Kellie’s ordeal has forced his own first shift. Niki pulls her son’s clothes off, rubbing his head as his body twists and shakes from the process.

Thankfully the whole fiasco is done within a few surprisingly short minutes, and the grey and silver wolf-pup forms of Cole and Kellie lay still on their beds, their chests rising and falling almost in sync with one another, and after a few more moments the twins manage to pull themselves back into human form, much to the delight of their parents and uncle Pike.

“Strong kids.” Pike comments as Niki and JT quickly redress the two. “Took me more than twenty minutes turn human again my first time. Congratulations.”

 

James and Xander sit in JT’s borrowed Camero, watching the warehouse where Veruca had told them that the Purity recruitment meeting was going down, intense looks on both their faces. They don’t even turn away from the building as Nina and Oz jog back up to the car and get in the back seat.

“Get what you needed?” the clan alpha asks after a moment, turning the key in the ignition and turning the motor on. Both Nina and Oz nod in unison as he presses down on the gas pedal and pulls away from the curb. 

“Six entrances and exits that we could find, but the interior looked pretty vacant, just a bunch of leftover garbage from when the place was a fish market.” Oz , pulling out the digital camera from his pocket and passing it forward to Xander.

“We’ll need at least eight people then.” James comments. “Are you three in?”

Oz and Xander nod immediately, and Nina gives up a vehement ‘hell yes’. “Who else you want in on this then?” Xander questions, glancing at James.

“Can’t use Pike or JT on this, we can’t risk their covers on the police force.” James says, a thoughtful look on his face as he pulls to a stop at a traffic light. “Jesse is already in agreement for whatever we do.”

“Veruca won’t be able to do much of anything else for us right now, but we’re waiting until after tonight to directly contact her, in case we don’t get everyone.” Oz puts in. “So that leaves Doyle, Niki and Aura.”

“Aura’s out, she doesn’t have the stomach for it. Doyle needs to be at the bar to let us in afterwards, but bring Niki in.” James decides, after thinking on it for a moment.

“And the other two?” Nina asks, pulling a cigarette out of her pack and lighting it in between her lips.

“Darius and one of his boys. O’Toole more likely than not.” James replies, taking a cigarette from the strawberry blonde moonchild as she offers. 

“We need to be on guard from multiple fronts, the FBI is going to be snooping around after this shit.” Oz says. “I can do this job, but I think I’m going to need to lay low for a while after. They already believe I know more than I told them.”

“That’s fine.” James agrees, not wanting to get anymore of his crew locked up. “After tonight, you and Veruca can go down to New York for a while, I need a fresh set of eyes on our friends over there anyways since Nick got pinched by the feds a few weeks ago on witness tampering charges.”

“That works.” Oz says with a nod, and then the light turns green and James drives through the intersection, heading back toward the hospital.

 

“Jimmy!” Elizabeth greeted upon opening the door to find her cousin standing outside. “Good to see you! You shoulda called first, I’d have made coffee.”

“I didn’t even know you were back in town until I ran into Erica the other night.” Jimmy admits. “I kinda needed to talk to you about something she told me. About Liam O’Connor, she said he’s been courting you?”

“Yeah, he’s sweet.” Elizabeth replies, looking like she’d rather not talk about her private affairs, and Jimmy couldn’t say he blamed her. “Why, is he in trouble or something?”

“Not exactly, but I just wanted to make sure that you were being careful.” Jimmy tells his youngest cousin. “There’s a lot about that man that you don’t know about.”

“What, about his shadier dealings?” Elizabeth asks, with a slightly mocking laugh. “He runs a casino in Boston, of course he’s not completely on the up and up. At least he doesn’t try to hide who he is.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“You’re a cop Jimmy, how many of those corrupt pigs have covered up murders and sold drugs to kids on the side?” Elizabeth says, her tone short and heated. “What I choose to do, and who I choose to associate myself with, are MY choices. Not yours or Erica’s or anyone else’s.”

“I wasn’t trying to tell you want to do, I just want to make sure that you have all the facts.”

“Yes, I know Liam is more likely than not in the mafia, and you know what, I really don’t care. This town isn’t getting better for us just living in it, I’m moving up in the world.”

“It’s a lot more than that.” Jimmy says, and Elizabeth’s eyes narrow.

“I think if you can’t just be happy for me, you should leave.” her tone is icy, and her eyes hard. Jimmy matches her gaze for a few more moments, before nodding and walking out of Elizabeth’s apartment.

 

Faith blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she finally roused out of her drug-induced slumber, casting look around the room, taking in the sight of James asleep in the chair next to her and Dawn standing just outside the door of the room. She reaches out and shakes James’ arm to wake him up as well.

“Hey you.” she whispers as he jerks awake.

“Hey yourself.” he replies back, meeting her gaze steadily. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got shot three times.” Faith rasps dryly, and James motions for Dawn to come in.

“Can you get her some water?” He asks and the brunette vampire gives a quick nod, moving back out into the corridor to make her way to the vending machines, leaving the two alphas some privacy. “How much do you remember?”

“I remember getting shot in the stomach, and that more than likely means I’m not pregnant anymore.” Faith replies, trying to keep her emotions in check as best she can, despite the tears that begin to leak down the side of her face. “I also remember what every one of those bastards look like.”

“They’re going to pay for what they did.” James promises, “I’ve invoked Blood Vengeance and Liam agreed. Me and a few of the others are going to hit the recruitment meeting tonight.”

“Good, make sure you get every one of the godless fucks.” Faith requests darkly and he gives a short nod. Dawn chooses that moment to re-enter the room with a bottle of water that she tosses to James, who unscrews the top before helping Faith to sit up in the bed so she can drink it.

“I’ll be outside if you need me.” Dawn says, turning to leave but stopping at Faith’s motioning for her to wait a second as she finishes drinking the water.

“Could you see if my sister is up, and if she is, tell her I am too?” Dawn nods once more before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

“Faith.” James says softly, once Dawn is clearly out of earshot, and she turns to face him. “We should really talk about-”

“Can we not? Cause I’m really struggling to keep it together here, without pondering pointless what-could-have-beens.”

“I really don’t think it’s pointless.” James says, and Faith’s eyes lock with his, the inner turmoil clearly shining through her chocolate orbs.

“It happened, and there’s nothing either of us, or any of our friends can do about it now aside from getting even.” Faith insists, and James sees her logic enough to let the matter drop. “So who else is going with you then?”

“Xan, Jesse, Oz, Nina, Niki, Darius and Jack O’Toole.” he answers after a moment, receiving a nod of approval from his mate. “Try and get some more rest for now, I’ll wake you up when Dawn brings Serena by.”

Faith gives one last tired nod, and allows herself to fall back into dreamland, as James continues to watch over her.

 

William steps up to the door at the end of the corridor, quickly twisting the knob and ducking inside before anyone in the hall sees him.

“Took you long enough.” Vi snarks from where she is sitting up against the backboard of the hospital bed, flipping through a tattoo magazine from the month before.

“Sorry luv, had to pull the night shift at the precinct. FBI’s pulling us all in on overtime cause of the latest attacks.” the well over two centuries old vampire tells the woman who’d have appeared well over forty had she not been infected with lycanthropy that had kept her looking under twenty five years since 1984.

“S’fine, I was only half serious.” Vi chuckles humorlessly, glancing between her secret lover and the door, which William flips the lock on, pulling the curtain shut over the small window. “Alone at last then?”

“Looks like.” William nods, turning back to face her again, moving over to the leather seat next to the bed. “So how long did Cordy and Fred order you on bed rest for?”

“Oh I could have been out of here a few hours ago, James said to stay in until after tonight.” Vi tells the homicide detective.

“What’s he planning?” William asks, taking Vi’s smaller hand in his own as she reaches over to caress the back of it against his palm. The redhead shrugs unhelpfully.

“He didn’t say, just that it was going to be tonight and that he wanted to keep the suspicion off of me and Serena, and Faith too as she’s got at least a couple more days before they’re going to let her out.” Vi tells him. “But even if I did know more, I wouldn’t let you stop them from doing whatever James has in mind.”

“I wouldn’t have tried.” William replies, and Vi casts him a small smile, grateful for his understanding. 

“So don’t you have to take my statement or something then detective?” Vi teases a moment later, her smile widening as William takes the hint and leans forward to capture her lips with his own, and within a few moments he has joined her on the bed, hovering over her smaller body as they work to remove each others clothes without breaking their now frenzied kiss.

A few moments later, the last of their garments falls to the floor and the pair disappears under the sheets with Vi’s muffled moans of pleasure filtering through.

 

Nina walks into the room that Niki has taken up temporary residence in, the slightly older blonde sitting on the chair in between the two beds, watching as her children sleep. JT and Pike are gone, having been called into the precinct for their regular shift.

“Hey Nik,” she greets softly, keeping her voice low so the kids aren’t woken up. 

“Everything all right?” the shorter of the two questions, and Nina gives a quick nod.

“Just wanted to talk to you in private.” Nina replies, closing the door to the room. “Veruca gave up the location of a recruitment meeting tonight at the fisherman’s wharf, and he’s getting a group together to hit it. He asked me to see if you were in.”

“If the kids can stay here while it’s being done, then yeah, I’m definitely in.” Niki tells her, pausing for a moment. “JT doesn’t find out about it.”

Nina nods, turning to leave. “I’ll tell James you agreed, be waiting for his call.” she says, re-opening the door to exit the room, returning to the corridor where Xander and Jesse are waiting. She gives them a quick nod of confirmation.

“She’s with us.” the artist announces. “Come on, I need a coffee before I do anything else.” She pushes through the two men, and they fall into step behind her, the trio heading towards the café.

 

James and Oz sat in the front of the latter’s van, watching out the front windshield as Darius’ pulled up behind them, with Jack O’Toole in the passenger seat. James turns around in his seat, to face the huddled group of Xander, Jesse, Nina and Niki in the back, giving them a questioning nod and receiving four approving nods back from each of them.

“Let’s get this done then.” the alpha comments, sliding his Bersa into the waistband of his pants before opening the passenger side door and getting out of the car. Oz mirrors his actions from the drivers seat and after Jesse slides open the door, the four in the back disembark as well, all gathering on the sidewalk as Darius and Jack join them.

The eight wolves make the two block trip by use of the alleyways to avoid detection, from both traffic cameras and any Purity members that might be around. James called the group to a halt, and gives a quick hand motion at Jesse, who nods and jogs up to the warehouse, now lit from the inside. The other seven watch as Jesse stealthily creeps up to one of the large windows and peeks it, taking stock of the contents within before turning and jogging back over.

“I counted eleven inside, didn’t see any of the people from the files but Veruca is in there. She makes twelve.” Jesse reports and James nods, turning to where Oz stands.

“Call her, tell her it’s on.” the alpha instructs and Oz pulls out his cell, presses a couple buttons and waits for a moment.

“Daniel?” Veruca’s voice filters through the phone, using Oz’s real name as it was common enough to not be connected to him directly.

“We’re here, five minutes.” Oz intones before quickly ending the call without waiting for an actual response.

“Alright people, you know the score here. Spread out around the place, at least one covering every exit, fishbowl them in.” James instructs, pulling a piece of folded paper out of his pocket, opening it and holding it out to Darius, who looks down to see an image of Veruca, and Jack looks down at it as well. “Other than her, leave no survivors.”

Both members of the Raven Heart clan nod, the Blood Clover members mirroring a moment after. James expression turns steely. “Good. Let’s get this over with.”

The Blood Clover Alpha leads the way over to the former fish market, motioning for the group to break apart as they neared. Darius and Jack followed after Jesse as the latter jogged around the south side. Xander made his way up to the first door they came upon and took up position just outside it, pulling his gun out and preparing himself mentally. James, Oz, Niki and Nina continued around the north side, the two women breaking away to take the northernmost door, Oz at the service entrance several yards away, and James continuing around the corner, catching sight of Jesse as he took the final door. 

With a glance and a nod from the taller man, James raises his Bersa skyward, letting off a single shot to signal the rest of the group, before rearing back and using his wolf strength to kick the door inward, nearly knocking it completely of it’s hinges. He strides in and raises his gun at one of the surprised cult initiates, catching the man in the forehead and sending the hapless son of a bitch to the ground in a heap.

Nina and Niki strolled in with a certain amount of finesse that James had lacked, using the distraction caused by his loud entry to just open the door quietly and drop three more before any of them knew they were there, the silencers in the hands of the two she-wolves making soft ‘fffwips’ rather than loud cracks.

Jesse grabs one of the recruits that tries to bull run his way past him, grabbing the man by the wrist and yanking him close as he shoves his Wesson into the man’s gut, pulling the trigger and blowing a chunk out of the man’s back before letting the corpse slump to the ground.

Xander’s twin Sig P228s fire off a couple of short burst, knocking a couple more off their feet and crashing to the concrete. Neither get back up.

Darius and Jack have a bit of trouble with the door, as it’s been locked from within, so the two are surprised when the doors suddenly give way and two of the men from inside come rushing out. A quick shot from Darius catches one of the men in the leg just above the back of the knee, and sends him sprawling to the ground. A shot from Jack’s gun puts him down for good and the two men give chase to the other, catching up with him easily at the end of one of the docks. The shots from the two impact several bullets against his chest, causing his body to jerk as he stumbles back from the force of the impacts. His back presses against the metal railing and a further two shots sends backwards him over the edge. Darius and Jack move to the edge as well and upon looking down, see the dead man floating limply in the water with a growing red cloud polluting the water. 

Oz sneaks up behind one of the others that just stands there in shock as the people around him are cut down by bullets, the man not noticing him until he’s right behind him. Oz grabs the man by the hair, and yanks his head back before dragging the jagged blade of his jackal knife across the man’s throat, spraying blood on the front of his shirt before Oz shoves the man away, letting him pitch forward onto the pavement. He hears a click from behind him and turns to face another of the men, who has a gun trained on him, his hand shaking. Oz doesn’t blink as the two lock eyes, Oz pointedly keeping from acknowledging Veruca as she silently pulls out her Colt and raises it to the gunman’s head as she reaches him, giving no warning as she pulls the trigger and fires into the back of his skull, sending him crashing to the ground. Oz gives her a small grin and nod, but she doesn’t return it as the others finish up and begin to gather up in the center of the building. Darius and Jack also re-enter a moment later from the impromptu chase.

“You guys should have waited, Walsh pushed back her arrival an hour. I tried to warn Oz, but he’d already hung up.” Veruca lets her disappointment be known. 

“Shit.” James curses as he sees that she’s right, Walsh isn’t among the dead. “We need to get out of here.” he says as the group hears sirens begin sounding off in the distance. “You too Veruca.”

“Fuck that.” the nomad wolf retorts. “I’ve come too far and I’m too goddamn close to being able to end this shit, there’s no way in hell I’m walking away. One of you has to shoot me.”

Her demand is met by several outcries of both disbelief and refusal, and Veruca rolls her eyes in exasperation. She turns and locks eyes with Niki, who has a conflicted look on her face. Veruca gives the tiniest of nods, and it is returned a split second before Niki surges forward from her spot between Nina and Jesse. Veruca feels the cold steel of the other woman’s gun press into the flesh over her abdomen as the woman’s other arm wraps itself around her, then a loud crack echoes through out the warehouse, startling the others and Veruca half collapses against Niki as the first wave of burning agony hits her.

Oz springs into motion, taking hold of Veruca’s half-conscious form and shoving Niki away to crash into Xander, who catches and helps steady her.

“What the hell did you do that for!?” He snarls at Niki as she pulls herself up using Xander as an anchor.

“Oz.. I needed this..” Veruca coughs out through the pain. “She didn’t hit anything vital, I’ll be fine, but you all need to go.”

“She’s right.” James agrees. “What’s done is done, and since this shit still isn’t over, better to keep her cover.”

Oz nods mutely after a long moment, then helps Veruca over to the wall, leaning her against it so she’ll be able to stay conscious until the paramedics arrived.

“Good luck.” he whispers, and she nods her head almost imperceptibly. He presses a light kiss to her forehead and then stands, joining the others as they make their way back to their vehicles and escape into the maze of streets.

 

“Dispatch to all available units, we’re receiving multiple reports of gunfire over at the Fisherman’s Wharf. Over zzt.” the dispatchers voice sounds off over the shortwave in William and Jimmy’s unmarked car. The two men share a brief look before William grabs the transmitter and holds it up to his mouth.

“This is detective William Pratt, en rout to the scene in an unmarked. Will arrive in the next couple minutes.” the homicide detective speaks into the device.

“Copy that.” the dispatcher affirms, continuing her broadcast as William drives the car towards the scene.

He pulls into an alleyway and stops the car at the sight of the crumpled body laying on the pavement in front of the car, lit up by the headlights. Both William and Jimmy get out of the car and rush over to the body, leaning down to check for a pulse.

“Well I’ll be goddamned.” William says a moment later as he flips over the unconscious man and he is revealed to be Forrest Gates, one of the Purity Lieutenants. “This is Gates, one of the guys that Stein thinks was behind the hits on the bookstore and the tattoo shop.”

Jimmy’s mouth drops open in surprise at the revelation. “What the hell is he doing out here?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” William admits, not having been let in on the wolves plans that had unfolded only a few hundred yards away.

In the shadows, an unknown man watches silently as William and Jimmy haul the unconscious Forrest up and toss him in the back of their unmarked car, then get back in themselves to continue on to the main crime scene. The figure waits until the tail lights of the car disappears around the corner before pulling out a cell phone and dialing a number.

After a few rings the other end picks up and Agent Stein is heard over the reciever.

“Stein.” the agent says simply, waiting for a response.

“Two homicide detectives just picked up Gates, he knows who I am and the identity of your other undercover.” the unknown man says. “He needs to be put out of the reach of the cult.”

“I’ll take care of things on my end, but I’m not sure what you meant by the other undercover, I don’t have anyone else in on this. Not since Carver got killed.”

“Shit, we may have big problems then, cause there’s a new girl in the game and she ain’t playing for the same team as Walsh.”

“Find out who she is and get back to me.” Stein orders before ending the call. The unknown man returns the cell to his pocket and then disappears into the night.

 

JT looked up from where he is sitting in the same chair that Niki had occupied when Nina had come to talk to her, nodding at his aforementioned wife as she returns from the hit.

“How’d it go?” JT asks, having heard from Doyle what James had taken her and the others to do.

“We didn’t lose anyone, and they’re down eleven members, so that’s a plus.” Niki answers dryly.

“You look less than okay with it.” her husband comments, standing to meet her midway between the room, taking her smaller form into his arms.

“Walsh was a no-show, and Veruca asked us to shoot her so that her cover wouldn’t be compromised.” Niki replies, tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. “So I did it.”

“Jesus.” JT mutters, reaching a hand up to bury in Niki’s hair as he massages her head and pulls her tighter to him as her body trembles from the overload of stress.

“I just want this shit to be done with so that our children can live in this world without having to be afraid of being different.”

“That’s what we all want.” JT agrees, easing up as he feels her begin to relax again. He pulls away enough to look down into her baby blue eyes. “We’ll have it one day.”

“Promise?” She whispers, turning slightly to glance over the sleeping forms of Cora and the newly shifted Kellie and Cole.

“Yes.” JT says after a moment of silence.

“Liar.” Niki chides, but gives him a weak smile. “But I still love you.”

“Love you too Niki.” JT replies, pulling her back to him, with the side of her face against his chest as she watches her children for a few more moments.

 

Liam strode purposefully into the private ward, passing Cordelia and Fred at the checkpoint, continuing on without a word to either until he reaches Serena’s empty room and looks in. Seeing no one inside, he moves on to Faith’s, finding her, James, Serena and Cassie all standing around the room, preparing to leave.

“You hit Purity.” Liam says matter of factly, causing the three wolves present to exchange a look between them.

“I really hope your not looking for an apology.” James replies a moment later. “Cause I’m not making one. You knew that I wasn’t just going to sit on this after what happened, and if you really wanted to stop me, I think we both know damn well you would have.”

Liam remains silent for a moment, taking in the moonchild’s words, before finally nodding.

“Fair enough.” Liam says, “But from here on out I fully expect to be made aware of these things before they happen. I’m sorry that your people got hurt, but five of mine are dead because of these pricks. At the very least we should be working together on this.”

“You can plan the next one.” James shrugs. “We didn’t even get any of the lieutenants, they weren’t there.”

“One was.” Liam counters, causing the eyes of all four to turn to him. “William and his partner in Homicide picked up Forrest Gates about a quarter mile from the bloodbath you left down on the wharf.”

“We got everyone that was there, he must have arrived as we were leaving.” James replies, slightly pissed that they could have nailed one of the higher ups in the cult and missed the chance.

“He’s in police custody nonetheless, and will be dealt with.” Liam says, receiving nods from the wolves before turning to face Cassie. “I have a job for you to do, if you’re interested.”

Cassie looks him in the eyes without blinking for several seconds as the room falls quiet, then she nods an affirmation to the silent conversation.

“Yeah that’s not an issue.” she says with a fierceness she rarely displayed in front of others.

 

“Agent Stein, just the man I was looking for.” William drawls as he makes his way into the conference room, Jimmy and Robin following after him. “You care to tell me why my murder suspect got shipped off to Shirley State without the authorization of the commissioner?”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Gates. I apologize for what I did, but it was a necessity.” Stein replies, looking only slightly remorseful. 

“Care to enlighten the uninformed?” Jimmy puts in, making his position known to the FBI agent, throwing his support behind the other homicide detective. While they might not see eye to eye as much as they used to, they were both still cops, and as such needed to present a united front. Robin nods from behind the pair, and then Penn, Wesley and Tara who are already seated around the conference table nod their agreement as well.

“Alright.” Stein acquiesces after a beat. “Gates needed to be put somewhere where there’d be no contact possible between himself and the other members of the cult. He has information that could be damaging to this investigation.”

“Such as?” Robin Wood inquires sternly, tired of getting the same run-around answers from the feds time after time.

“Do you fully trust everyone standing in this room?” Stein asks him deadpan, and after taking a sweeping glance around those present, Robin turns back to the agent and nods his confirmation.

“With my life.” The SBPD Major replies. “What information does Gates have?”

“The identity of my inside man, for starters.” Stein answers, a grim look on his face, one that is quickly mirrored by the majority of the others that are present. “I’m sure you can understand how this presents a problem. If Gates gets word back to Walsh on who my mole is, then four years of work will have been for nothing, and all those people the cult has killed, their deaths will go unanswered.”

Silence descends over the occupants of the sealed conference room, and there is a few moments that pass before Stein speaks up again.

“So that leads me to the question that has been burning on my mind since I got back from the warehouse massacre.” Stein finally says, glancing at each of the people in the room. “Which one of you donut munching failed dock workers thought it would be a good idea to drag the sister of a deceased agent, not to mention a former trainee herself, into an active federal case?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Robin questions, casting a glance at his team, all of whom shrug rather unhelpfully.

“What the fuck is Veruca Carver doing in Boston, and why the hell did I almost have to inform her parents that their only surviving daughter got shot to death too!?” Stein demands, getting only dumbfounded looks from the others.

 

Forrest dropped the mop head into the bucket of grey water, the half-dissolved soap suds stirring up slightly as he swirls it around. He pulls it out a moment later, and starts to scrub it against the concrete floor of the solitary confinement corridor, casting a wary glance at the guard stationed up by the entrance to the hallway, standing just to the right of the door.

He looks away for a few moments as he continues to run the mop head up and down the floor around him, eventually distracted by the sound of the door opening. He looks up and sees a fellow prisoner in a dark orange jumpsuit enter and speak to the guard for a few moments, turning away as the guard glances in his direction. If he’d continued watching, he’d have seen the other prisoner pass the guard something that the latter stuffs into the interior of his uniform.

“Gates!” The guard barks a moment later, causing the prisoner in question to look back over once the exchange is over. “Your lawyer is here, Tucker will bring you to meet her.”

Relieved, Forrest quickly abandons the mop and bucket, letting the former clatter to the floor as he strides toward where the guard and Tucker stand, regarding the other prisoner briefly before allowing him to lead the way.

It is about the time that the pair is making their way down a narrow corridor some five minutes later that Forrest first realizes that something is amiss. He doesn’t have much time for contemplation as he is blindsided by a punch to the head from the figure that just sprung out of the shadows of an unused cell. Hitting the ground hard, Forrest sees another man exit from the shadows as Tucker and the one that punched him quickly grab him and haul him roughly to his feet. The Purity cultist struggles but soon is aware of the heightened strength of both the men and he knows that they aren’t human.

Nathan Lehane emerges from the shadows as Larry and Tucker forcibly restrain Forrest, stepping right up into the other man’s face so that their eyes are only about a foot apart.

“You shot my sisters, motherfucker.” Nathan accuses, making his way up to them.

“Look man, I had nothing to do with what they sent me here for, I swear to fucking god!” Forrest pleads, all the composure he’d had when helping to murder Harmony, and then later with the attacks on Jenny’s occult bookstore and Tainted Ink.

“Forgive me for not taking the word of a kool-aid cultist.” Nathan spits out. “But of course I wasn’t expecting the truth. I’ve dealt with your little Purity gang enough times to know the only way you’d be useful to any kind of civilized society is as fertilizer. You’d already be dead if it wasn’t for the fact you have information certain people wanted.”

“What are you talking about?” Forrest questions, now confused on top of terrified.

“Your lawyer has come to pay you a visit, aren’t you going to say hello to the nice lady?” Nathan asks, turning to face the shadows as Cassie emerges as well, clad in a crisp business suit.

“Hold him still.” the tiny blonde vampire commands as she strides over, taking up the same spot that Nathan had occupied a moment earlier, and slaps her hands on either side of Forrest’s head, using her innate telepathy to search the man’s mind. After a few moments, she pulls away and curses. “Goddamn it! He doesn’t know where it is. Do whatever you want, he’s of no further use to us.” Cassie says, turning to Nathan before she leaves. “And Nate?”

Nathan turns to look at her for a moment, hearing her voice in his head.

‘Serena is my best friend. Make it hurt.’ 

The eldest Lehane nods, slipping a smuggled butterfly knife out of the sleeve of his jumpsuit, flipping it around artfully, and with inhuman speed to further intimidate the Purity member. Cassie closes the door behind her and walks up the adjoining corridor, never breaking stride even as Forrest begins screaming beyond the door.

 

Veruca looks up from her bed in the North Shore Medical center as the door to the room opens and Graham walks in. Veruca opens her mouth to ask him what he’s doing here, but he holds a hand up as to tell her to be silent. 

“I saved your ass last night, just in case you didn’t know.” Graham says after a moment, causing Veruca to tilt her head at him in confusion.

“I have no clue what your talking about.” she denies with a shake of the head.

“Forrest Gates saw you last night, he knew that you were working against Walsh and Purity, including telling that blonde woman to shoot you after they killed the others.” Graham reveals. “I almost broke my cover to get him caught by Boston homicide, with the weapon he and Malcolm Edwards used to murder that dancer.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” Veruca asks, now completely dumbfounded.

“Because I’m working to bring down Walsh and the people financing her operation, and you need to either get on the same page with me, or back off. You’re impeding a federal investigation.”

“You honestly think I give a fuck about a federal investigation?” Veruca snarls, pissed that someone had managed to play her. “Those assholes murdered my sister!”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” Graham says, his eyes downcast. “Ava was a good woman.”

Veruca’s eyes widen, and she lets out a surprised gasp. “How the hell did you know Ava?”

Graham is silent for a few moments, matching her gaze with an even look. “She was my partner.”

End of Episode

To be continued in the Hub, Episode 4: Falling House of Cards  
4\. Falling House of Cards  
The Hub  
Season One, Episode Four  
“Falling House of Cards”

Note: I am taking creative liberties as to what the interior of Shirley State corrections looks like, I’ve only ever driven by, and so I’m going to model it a bit after Oz. 

~~~~~~  
Start of Episode  
~~~~~

Black Rose Casino - Liam’s social club

Dawn gave a nod to Rondell as she passed by, opening the door marked ‘private’ and entering, closing the barrier behind her. She crosses the room and sits down at the table in the middle of the room, remaining silent and giving a nod to Willow, Giles, Gunn and William around the table as Liam finishes his phone call.

“Yes I understand, any information will be helpful.” The Hub Godfather says into the phone. “I’ll have someone pick you up at the airport tonight. Have a safe flight and I’ll see you soon.” He finishes and closes the cell, replacing it into his pocket. 

“Ethan Rayne is coming to Boston, bringing everything he was able to dig up on Purity from when he was dealing with them a couple years ago.” Liam tells the members of his inner circle. “He’s also bringing a few of his hitters for our use against the cult.”

“All due respect boss, but isn’t this something better taken care of ourselves?” Gunn asks, looking less than pleased. 

“The sooner we can catch these bastards, the sooner things will go back to normal.” Liam replies evenly. “I’m accepting any help I can get for us, plus we’ll have the advantage of a few unknown faces on our side.”

He pauses for a few seconds, glancing around the assembled council, his gaze falling on William. “Have you gotten anywhere in regards to the identity of the mole that gave up the Lehanes?”

The Homicide detective shakes his head regretfully. “Not of yet, no. That FBI bloke seems to think that it’s someone on the force, but for all we know it could be one of his. And he still refuses to give us the identity of his inside man, which is going to be a problem if we get a chance to hit them.”

Liam nods stiffly, his features grim. “That’s the goddamn feds for you. We’ll have to wait, last thing we need is an executed FBI undercover on our hands. Put the word out to the rest that if need be, shoot to kill only if attacked. We’re not going to seek them out until we know who not to hit.”

The other five vampires present in the meeting give nods of assent, and Dawn takes the opportunity to add her input.

“I’ll make sure the wolves get the word, but they ain’t going to like it.” The brunette says, meeting Liam’s eyes from where she sat.

“Everyone says that.” Liam replies nonchalantly. “Foley and Lehane will understand, and the rest will follow suit.”

He pauses for a few moments, thinking things over in his head. “Willow if you could pick up Ethan and his entourage from the airport tonight at eight-thirty, I would be most appreciative, seen as how Mr. Gunn has made his distaste of my old friend known.”

“Yeah, no problem Lee.” Willow answers immediately. “You want them brought here, or meet us at Scarlet Rain?”

“The Club would work better, less chance of any of them being connected to me that way.” Liam replies, and then turns to face Gunn and Giles. “Which reminds me, we need to do another employee evaluation in the next couple of days. Could be that Purity has someone hanging around the casino, so we’re also gonna have to tighten security when it comes to the non-regular guests in the hotel as well.”

The two Casino employees nod, and Liam faces William again, and last. “Keep working on leads, both to the mole for Purity and the undercover agent. That’s all.”

 

“Forrest is dead.” Riley Finn intoned darkly as he entered Walsh’s office in the house that the Purity members were using as a base of operations. “Those hell spawn got to him in Shirley Correctional, cut his goddamn face off and burned him.”

“A true pity.” Walsh replies, her voice sad. “Gates was a loyal soldier. We will avenge him as soon as an opportunity presents itself, him and those eleven poor souls we couldn’t save at the warehouse.”

Riley nods, the angry Iowan wanting revenge for his murdered colleague. “I would like to be a part of whatever you plan to do, Forrest was a close friend. He deserved better.”

“Of course.” Walsh replies, her eyes calculating as she starts brainstorming a counter-attack. She zones out in her thoughts for a few moments before becoming aware that Riley was still present. “You can go now, send Percy to me when you see him.” She orders and the ex-soldier gives a curt nod before turning where he stood and exiting the room. Walsh turns the swivel-chair and stares out the window at the Boston Skyline in the near distance from the suburban safe-house that she, Riley, Percy and Justine were hiding out in.

 

Tainted Ink 

Oz took a sweeping glance around the street outside the tattoo shop that was still cordoned off with yellow police tape. Satisfied that there is no one of any concern in the area, he ducks under the tape, stepping through the blown out bay window and into the lobby of the shop. He quickly makes his way down the narrow corridor and opens the door to the backroom, finding James, and Dawn waiting within.

“Is it clear?” The Hub Tribe consigliore questions anxiously, less than pleased at Foley’s choice of a meeting spot, and Oz gives a negative shake of the head.

“As near as I can tell.” The Beta of the Blood Clover tribe answers. “I’m rarely wrong.”

“So what did Liam want anyways?” James asks, bringing the conversation back to the reason the three were there.

“The FBI has a man inside Purity, the reason we were able to get to Forrest Gates.” Dawn replies, getting down to business. “Until we know who it is, He’s given a no-kill order on the other members of the cult.”

The eyes of both the wolves widen as they process Dawn’s words, and James lets out an angry growl.

“This is bullshit.” The clan alpha exclaims, enraged. “I’ve already invoked Blood Vengeance. That don’t stop until I kill the one that took my unborn child’s life.”

“Hey, I ain’t happy about it either, but last thing any of us need is a dead FBI Undercover.” Dawn replies, looking regretful for having to be the bearer of bad news. “I don’t think I need to tell you the kinda shit that would rain down on all of us if that happens. We have a number of people working on it, so hopefully this won’t last long.”

James opens his mouth to speak, then changes his mind at the wall for a few moments before turning back to face Dawn and Oz. “Tell Liam that the Blood Clovers will wait four days for someone to ID this FBI guy, and then we’re going to be actively hunting them out again.” The alpha finally says, and Dawn gives a nod of assent. “Oh, and if anyone takes a shot at any of mine, they’re dead, then and there. No discussion on that.”

“Fair enough, I’m sure Liam will be willing to agree to your terms.” Dawn tells him, and James fixes her with a look.

“Good, cause they ain’t negotiable this time Dee.” James says as he rises from the desk and moves to leave the room. “I suggest waiting a bit before you follow me out, the way that Stein guy was sniffing after Faith and Serena, I don’t know if he’s got someone watching the place, and I don’t want them to get pictures of us together.”

He stops at the door briefly, turning to face Dawn one more time. “I’ll tell Faith you said hey. Come on Ozzy, we got other business to attend to.” 

With that, he turns and leaves the back room, Oz following as the two make their way out the back door and get into Oz’s van, the Beta driving out of the alley and heading west. Dawn exits the building a few minutes later, heading up the opposite way and around the corner where her Escalade is parked, the Hub Tribe consigliore starting the car up and heading in the direction of the casino.

 

FBI Agent Corbin Fries had a frown on his face as he glanced between the two files on the surface of his desk.

“Fuckin A.” he curses, drawing his partner Adam Knox’s attention from the desk on the opposite corner of the four man cubicle they were assigned, the other man snapping out of his light slumber.

“Whazz the matter?” Knox questions, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up straight in his office chair, trying to regain some semblance of professionalism in case any of the higher brass were keeping an eye out.

“Agent McNulty over in old cases flagged the Forrest Gates murder as matching the M.O. of the Blim case, said the same weapon was used in both cases, a serrated knife, and both had their faces cut off and burned.”

“Shit, I remember that case vaguely. Blim was that stick-up artist right?” Knox questions, and Fries gives a nod of confirmation. “Did they have any suspects in the Blim case before it fell through the cracks?”

“Yeah, uhm one sec.” Fries answers, flipping through the file on Billy Blim, his eyes widening as he saw two particular names in the list of people who had been questioned. “Shit, Nathan Lehane and James Foley were questioned in regards to the Blim case, both were in the vicinity at the time of Blim’s disappearance. His body didn’t turn up until a month and a half later, some bird watcher found the remains out in Callahan State Park.”

“Shit is right man, Stein’s going to lose his shit.” Knox agrees, his features grim. “Lehane is incarcerated at Shirley on distribution charges. I guarantee you he whacked Gates.”

 

(Insert Credits for the Hub here)

 

Logan Airport – Terminal #24

Willow smiled and gave a nod to Ethan Rayne as the two caught sight of eachother, the redhead moving to meet Ethan midway, where she gives the older vampire a friendly hug as the three people with the Godfather of the NYC Coalition.

“Willow, always a pleasure.” Ethan greets in an amicable voice as the two pull apart.

“Indeed.” The High Priestess of the Hub replies, matching his tone. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“One day soon.” Ethan tells her, then indicates the trio that had come with him. “Willow Rosenberg, meet the Fitzpatricks. Kasey, Carrie and Shane.” Ethan introduces her to his companions, all of whom are clearly Irish, and with a sniff of the air, Willow recognizes all three as wolves.

“Pleasure.” Willow replies, giving a nod of greeting to the three, which is mirrored silently by each of them. “Come on, I have a limo waiting for us in the south garage.” 

The redhead turns and leads the way through the crowded terminal, Ethan and the Fitzpatricks falling into step behind her.

 

Purgatory

“How’d it go?” Faith asks, turning in her seat at the bar as James entered with Oz, and locked the door behind them.

“Liam’s issued a no-kill order on Purity until we find out who this undercover FBI agent is.” James replies sullenly.

“You shitting me?” Faith screeched, her eyes widening.

“That was more or less Mick’s reaction.” Oz commented, coming up to the bar and giving Faith a nod before gesturing at Doyle. “Hey Al, let me get a budwiser.”

“I think I’m gonna need a little something stronger.” Faith griped, turning back to face the bar as James came up and took the seat next to her.

“Whiskey, all around.” James tells Doyle. “Join us, you’re off the clock til nine.”

“What the hell?” Doyle agrees, reaching into the fridge under the bar and pulling out the bottle of Flanery’s Imported Irish Whiskey that had been sent as a gift for hosting the ‘fare-thee-well’ party that had been held in the bar for Irish vampire Connor Reilly after he had returned to Dublin, a few months prior. “That bad, huh?”

“I told Dawn to pass on the message to Liam that I was giving him four days to get the identity of the undercover and then all bets are off.” James replies. “I’m still holding to the invoked Blood Vengeance, just putting it on hold for the moment.”

“Likely it’ll make little difference in the long run. They’ve been quiet for the past few days and Veruca still hasn’t gotten to meet Walsh yet, so we don’t even have anything to go on as far as getting back at these nuts.” Oz adds, reaching out and taking one of the now filled shotglasses that Doyle has put on the bar, the other three moonchildren also grabbing one for themselves and throwing back the alcohol in tandem, then slamming the shotglasses back onto the bar with a series of clinks that echo through the mostly empty barroom.

“Good shit.” James rasps after a moment, his eyes watering as the liqueur burned in his throat, both Faith and Oz nodding their agreement. “For the next four days, we’re keeping everyone close, so with the exception of myself, Oz, Pike and JT, we’re staying out of the public. I’m not putting the rest of you at risk of exposure to retaliation from those pricks for what we did down at that warehouse.”

“Could always take out a bounty on the fuckers.” Doyle suggests, refilling the shotglasses on the bar. 

“Got anyone in mind?” James asks, mulling the idea over.

“Word is Ethan Rayne is coming to the Hub, and I’ve heard from a few old friends in New York that he’s been using the talents of the DTR Fitzpatricks the past few months, so it’s likely one or more will be escorting him. Or maybe Bodie down on the wharf, Purity clipped one of his crew two or three nights before the shooting at Tainted.”

“You got a number for the Fitzpatricks?” the Blood Clover alpha asks, but Doyle shakes his head. 

“Sorry.” The older of the two Irish immigrants replies, shrugging his shoulders. 

“Not an issue, I’ll see if Bodie has an interest in revenge.” James replies, slamming back another shot.

“Heh, a panther not interested in revenge… Good one.” Faith snorted and threw back her own shot, both Doyle and Oz following suit a second later.

“In the meantime, I want everyone here tonight at least.” James says, giving a pointed look at Doyle, who nods and steps back from the bar and walking over to where the phone is hooked up.

The bar owner quickly snatches up the phone and quickly dials a number from memory. “Hey Vi, yeah it’s Doyle. Foley wants everyone on lockdown here tonight… safety in numbers and all that shit.. Yeah, I’ll see you and Serena soon. Drive safe and keep your eyes open…” he says before hanging up and dialing another number.

“Sorry to bother you Niki…” he begins the second call, as Oz takes charge of refilling the shot glasses for the third round.

 

North Boston – Purity Safehouse

Veruca fingered the gun tucked into the back waistband of her jeans, concealed by her leather jacket, as she stood staring at the door as it slowly opened. Her grip on the firearm relaxed and she let it go to drop her hand to the side as Graham enters the dwelling and closes the door behind him.

“Look, I don’t really give a flying fuck that your real boss is pissed that I’m here, or that you knew my sister. The fact you wanted to send me away is bullshit, I ain’t going nowhere until my sister’s killer is brought to justice.” Veruca announces before the undercover fed can even get a word out.

“You’re impeding on an ongoing investigation, and your presence here may do more damage than good.” Graham replies calmly, not really looking for a fight with his late partner’s younger sister.

“Tough. Work me into your plans if you need to, but don’t think for a goddamn moment I’m going to let this go until it’s done.” Veruca counters. “I think we both owe her that much, if you truly cared about her as much as you claimed to have.”

“You are speaking of their conviction and incarceration, right?” Graham asks, a little bit of hopeful desperation in his tone as the Texan born fed prays she isn’t planning on murdering the cult members. He was still holding her with a bit of suspicion, given how events at the warehouse had unfolded and he’d been forced to abandon Forrest for the cops, the cultist later found horribly disfigured and stuffed in a utility closet in the bowels of Shirley State Correctional.

“Of course.” Veruca replies evenly, letting her face go blank so he wouldn’t be able to tell she was lying. In her mind, she had decided maybe murder on a mass scale was a bit much, but that bitch Walsh was definitely going to die, along with whoever it was that actually was the one that pulled the trigger on her sister if she could find out who is had been. Throwing caution to the wind as a particular form of the question that might seem less obvious, she speaks again. “But since we’re on the subject of how you knew my sister, I’m gonna take a wild shot in the dark and guess you have a pretty good idea as to who it was that killed Ava.”

Graham gaze falls, the man staring uncomfortably at the floor without a reply to Veruca’s question. “Graham, please. I understand secrecy and that whole game the Bureau plays, but I need to know. Is that person still alive?”

He is silent for a few more moments before reluctantly giving up an answer. “Yes.”

Veruca’s eyes tear up slightly, but she blinks them back, and rubs at her face quickly with her hand. “Thank you.” She says with honest gratitude, and Graham gives a slight nod, hoping the information he had given would help the remaining daughter of Caleb Carver in some small way, and that she never finds out the real truth about what happened.

 

Scarlet Rain – Willow’s Office

Cassie opened the door at the sound of the coded knock from outside, allowing entrance for Liam and Dawn, who arrived about the same time. The blonde vampire gives Bethany a small nod and then closes the door as the brunette dancer returns down to the bottom level of the establishment.

“Ethan, so good to see you.” Liam greets as he crosses the room, the two men clasping hands in a firm shake for a couple seconds. The Hub Godfather then gives a glance over to the trio of Fitzpatricks that have taken up residence on the leather sofa on the east side of the room, giving them a nod of acknowledgement before getting down to business. “I’m gonna need everything you have on the cult.” He intones darkly.

“I gathered as much.” Ethan replies, pulling a couple compact disk cases from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, holding them out for Liam. “Everything I got and I’ll even do you one better, since you mentioned that your allies among the moonchild community were coming under fire, I figured I’d loan you a few unknown faces. These are Kasey, Shane and Carrie Fitzpatrick.” He says, indicating each of the three as he speaks their name.

“Heard a few things about your family.” Liam remarks. “If memory serves Big Hank was the one who killed Kakistos.” He adds, making reference to the vampire godfather of the east coast during the 1940’s, until he was killed and his territory broken up into smaller communities that lined the larger cities, the other empire-esque territories of the west coast and the north-central and south central US following by example over the following decade and shaping into the society of 1999 over the near half century that had past since the inception of it’s current incarnation.

“Aye.” One of the two females, Kasey replies with a distinctive Irish brogue to her low tone. “Shane and I w’ah there for that, our other brother Michael was too.”

“You point us in the direction of these Purity douchebags and we’ll send them a message that there ain’t no way in hell could be misconstrued.” Shane adds from his spot between his two sisters on the couch and Liam gives a nod.

“We’re working on a tracking down leads as to where they’re hiding, but I’ll let you know when we have something.” Liam replies, stepping away from Ethan to get a better look at the three Fitzpatrick siblings. “Forgive me for asking, but you seem awfully eager to get your hands dirty. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, if a tenth of the rumors about your families exploits are true than the three of you combined are probably more dangerous than any other crew in this city, maybe even the state.”

“It’s a bit of both.” Carrie answers. “Can’t really say with absolution that my family isn’t a bunch of violent sociopaths in the right situations, but we got just cause on this. We had a friend killed by these assholes, so I’m sure you can understand.”

“Quite.” Willow speaks, drawing the attention of the others, taking in the quizzical and slightly bothered look in the Hub boss’ eyes. “You can scream at me later, right now we do need to make the best use of what assets we hold that they don’t know of, won’t be looking for. And we need to do it before whoever this alleged mole we have gives Walsh more.”

Liam is silent for a few moments, thinking things over in his head. “Fine.

 

Shirley State Correctional Facility – Cell Block H aka ‘The Promised Land’

“Lehane!” 

Nathan looked up from the game of poker he was involved in with Larry, Tucker and a moonchild panther from Bodie Stone’s crew named Bobby Evans, as one of the correction officers called down from the exit at the second level.

“What?” He calls back, not moving from his seat.

“FBI wants to talk to you and they’re waiting, so get up here!” the prison guard calls back.

“Fuck.” Nathan curses under his breath, dropping his cards on the table and rising from the table he’s sitting at. “I’ll be back.” He tells them, looking slightly perturbed that the feds wanted to talk to him just a week after he’d murdered Forrest Gates with the others. He quickly jogs up the stairs and goes around to where the guard is waiting, then follows the other man out of the cell block and through the maze of corridors until they reached one of the ‘interrogation’ rooms, which was in all actuality an old storage closet that had been converted for it’s current use. He regards the two feds in the room, his gaze moving from the one seated on the opposite end of the table in the center of the room to the second one that was leaning against the east side wall, a cigarette in his mouth.

“Have a seat.” The seated one orders, and Nathan gives him a smirk before complying with the demand, dropping into the hard plastic chair. “I’m Agent Knox, that’s my partner..”

“Fries.” The second agent finishes.

“What’s this about?” The eldest member of the Lehane family inquires, feigning ignorance despite having a decent idea of what it was.

The seated suit is silent for a few moments, as he pulls the folder on the edge of the table closer to himself and flips it open before spreading out a couple of glossy photographs that had been enlarged to fit the paper that they were on.

“Billy Blim and Forrest Gates, both were done in the same way and burned. Most likely even with the same weapon.” Knox tells him, and Nathan can feel the man’s scrutiny tenfold with his wolf abilities. “We know that both you and your sister Faith’s boyfriend we present at the scene when Blim was abducted, and now with Forrest Gates killed the same way here, where you’re serving a four year term? Gotta tell you Nate, I’m not a big believer in coincidence.”

Nathan gives a simple shrug of the shoulders, his expression disinterested. “I gave my statement on the whole Blim thing, it’s in the public record. I didn’t have nothing to do what happened to that Gates guy, there’s a few dozen people in this fine institution I could name off the top of my head that were in Boston the same time that Blim got blown to pieces, so go bother one of them.”

Nathan stood then, giving a glare at Fries as he pushed off the wall to edge toward him, then turned his gaze back down to Knox, who was still sitting calmly at the table. “If you got something to charge me with it, then give it to me. Otherwise I ain’t got dick to say to yah without my lawyer.”

“Fine, go.” Knox says, and Nathan is all to happy to oblige, quickly exiting the room and slamming the door shut behind him, leaving the two agents alone in the room.

“What do you think?” Fries asks a moment later, taking a final drag off his cigarette and stubbing it out in the ashtray on the table.

“He might not have been the one to do it, but definitely knows who did.” Knox replies. “In truth, I’m rather satisfied with how it went, short as it was.”

“How do you mean?” 

“I’m now convinced that Mr. Lehane does in fact take his orders from someone on the outside, more likely than not it’s James Foley.” Knox answers. “I doubt we’ll get much out of anyone else, so now the question is who is Mr. Foley taking HIS orders from. If we can find that out, we might have the identity of whoever Purity’s main target is.”

 

“What did they want?” Tucker asks from where he sat on the bottom bunkbed as Nathan pulled open the glass door of their ‘pod’ in the cell block, letting it close on it’s own behind him.

“They were sniffing for information on that cultist that we killed.” Nathan replies, dropping into the plastic chair against the wall. “And Billy Blim.”

“You think someone’s talking out of turn, passing information?” Tucker follows up, his tone turning serious.

“I don’t know, but we gotta take care of a few things here, namely finding someone to take the fall for Gates, and hopefully Blim, or both of us might have a lot more time left stuck in this shithole than three more years.” Nathan replies.

“We could pin it on the Aryans, it’ll be believable enough given Gates’ ethnicity.” Tucker suggests, and Nathan gives a nod of agreement.

“I’ll get Larry to do a search and see if any of those idiots were in Boston when the Blim thing went down, he can use the computer terminal in the warden’s assistant’s office.” Nathan decides, glancing out the glass divider that made up the wall of their pod at the other convicts and guards milling around, before turning back to face Tucker. “After that we gotta somehow get my blade planted on whoever we decide on.”

Tucker gives a curt nod. “That shouldn’t be a problem, I can pass the blade to Doyle’s cousin while we’re on kitchen duty, and he can get into the Aryan’s block easy enough to hide it.”

“Good, should save us a decent amount of trouble.”

 

Boston – The Docks

James stared unblinkingly at the African-American panther moonchild that was holding an old school Ruger to his hand, the barrel aimed at James forehead as the two stood just outside the entrance to a secluded old storage can that had been converted into a social club for certain members of the DWU, and hidden within the labyrinth of transport crates that littered the area.

“Listen, I didn’t come here for no trouble.” James says, his voice remaining level and calm despite the perilous situation he was in. “I ain’t strapped, I just want a sit-down with Bodie, I got some information that he might be interested in. If he don’t want none of it, then that’s that.”

The panther stared at him for a few moments, then lowered the gun and rapped on the door to the social club, and it opened a moment later and James recognizes Bodie’s cousin Sam ‘Tall Man’ Newkirk as the colossal man pokes his head out and gives a nod in James’ direction.

“Chill out D.” Tall Man says, and the demeanor of the door guard shifts. “He’s good people.” He adds, holding the door open wider and motioning for James to enter, the pair crossing the entry room and into the back room, where Bodie is sitting on a couch, surrounded by a few of his crew members.

The drug kingpin and on-paper dock worker looks over as his cousin enters with James and gives the three members of his crew a look. “Wait outside.” He orders, the trio stopping their activities and exiting the room, leaving the three alone.

“Foley, been a while.” Bodie says as he stands from the couch and holds his hand out in greeting, which James takes, the two men taking seats opposite each other, with Bodied dropping back onto the couch and James taking one of the leather chairs on the other side of the table between them. Sam remains standing at the door in silence.

“Aye, wasn’t sure that you weren’t still pissed for my boys hitting Iverson back in April.” James replies, meeting Bodie’s gaze steadfast, and then looking slightly relieved as the panther shrugs it off.

“Ain’t no big thing, water under the bridge.” Bodie replies a moment later, a small grin coming over his face. “Truth be told I found out a couple weeks after that Freddy was about a light shove away from flipping, so you saved me the trouble. I guess I owe you for that.”

“Funny you should mention owed favors.” James replies. “I’m sure you’ve heard Purity rolled into town by now.”

Bodie gives a nod of confirmation, his expression darkening. “Yeah, I heard. Thankfully they haven’t come at me or my people yet though. All yours alright?”

“We had a couple incidents, but none of mine have fallen.” James answers, pulling his pack of cigarettes out, giving a look and silent question to Bodie who shrugs and James lights up. “The vamps have taken a few hits though, same with Craven’s crew down in Worcester.”

“Damn shame.” Bodie remarks, pulling out his own cigarettes. 

“We have a couple of the bastards on our radar, but the feds have been sniffing around, and I agreed to hold off on retaliation for their attempted hit on my people a couple weeks ago.”

“So you’re contracting out?” Bodie questions, and the wolf alpha gives a nod. “I don’t know man, do you even know where these people are.”

“At the moment, no.” James admits. “I got my people working on it, Liam’s doing the same on his end. Turns out there’s an undercover fed in the cult, on top of our own mole.”

“You want me to arrange a hit, and I run the risk of killing a fed? All due respect, but fuck that.” Bodie exclaims, somewhat offended.

“No. We may not know who the fed is, but I can confirm four that it isn’t.” James responds quickly, not wanting violence to come out of this meeting, and Bodie calms himself, indicating for the other man to continue.

 

Elizabeth looked up at the sound of the door to the outer office opening and a smile slid onto her face as Liam entered with another man that she didn’t recognize.

“Elizabeth.” The Hub godfather greets warmly as he catches sight of his latest romantic entanglement. “This is a friend of mine from New York, Ethan Rayne.” Liam introduces the two, Elizabeth giving the other vampire a friendly nod that he returns.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Rayne.” Elizabeth says, holding her hand out to shake, but Ethan takes it in his and presses a kiss to the back of her hand.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” Rayne replies as he releases her hand, stepping back a little bit as Liam’s annoyance emanates off his aura.

“Is Giles around?” Liam asks a moment after, and Elizabeth gives him a nod.

“He’s inside.” She replies, and he gives her a quick nod of gratitude.

“Are you going to be free tomorrow night for dinner?” he asks, and Elizabeth nods, 

“Yeah, I am. Mr. Giles is letting me off at six.”

“Excellent, I’ll come by quarter of.” He says, and then the phone rings. Elizabeth gives an apologetic look and then goes and picks it up.

“Hello?” She asks into the phone, giving Liam a small wave as he and Ethan pass by and enter into Giles’ office, shutting the door behind them.

“Liam?” Giles asks, coming out of the side room that held his private bathroom and taking sight of the two men. “I wasn’t expecting you. And my apologies, Ethan. Welcome back to the Hub.”

“Good to see you too old friend.” Ethan greeted back, the two vampires having known each other since before when they were both still human, having held a bitter rivalry at the time that had mellowed into a friendly back and forth over the following centuries as they walked their own separate paths and rise to power in the supernatural community. “Although there was something I wished to discuss, that I wanted only the three of us to know, so I didn’t bring it up earlier.”

“What do you mean?” Liam demands suddenly, not thrilled at the revelation that Ethan had held back information, however short it was.

“We have a problem within our current predicament.” The New Yorker intones grimly. “It’s not in the files, but one of Walsh’s lieutenants, Justine Cooper, is the niece of the senator of North Carolina, Quentin Travers. Whacking her might have serious repercussions down the road, so I would suggest letting the police handle that particular one.”

“Easier said then done.” Liam replies, ignoring the looks from Rayne and Giles. “Cooper was one of the four involved with a shooting at a tattoo shop that is owned by a couple of our allies in the moonchild clans. “The Alpha of the Blood Clover clan has invoked Blood Vengeance, and set it into motion with the murder of Forrest Gates by their incarcerated members. You know as well as I do that the wolves don’t stop a revenge hunt until it’s finished. We’re lucky enough that he agreed to hold off until the night after tomorrow.”

“If it comes down to it, they won’t find a body.” Giles adds. “The wolves aren’t fools, doesn’t matter who it is, none of us have left a body on the street since Blim last year.”

“I hope you’re right, cause we don’t need a senator nosing around any of our affairs.” Ethan finishes with a shrug, not really bothered if the Cooper woman died, just that it didn’t blow back on him or any of his allies.

 

James wasn’t too thrilled with the outcome of the meeting with Bodie, the Panther alpha politely declining the request but saying that if James could get the location of the primary, then Bodie and his crew would assist in the mass takedown of the cult. James had nodded and smirked when Bodie had mentioned that he’d heard that the Fitzpatricks had come to town as well, and replied that he was working on that angle as well.

The smirk was gone now, replaced by an annoyed look that was directed at the two uniformed police officers that had him up against the wall of a bakery up the block from Purgatory, and his wrists were soon cuffed behind his back.

“James Foley, you are under arrest in connection to the murder of William Blim. You have the right to remain silent..” James toned out the cops’ speech, allowing himself to be lead over to the backseat of the cruiser and subsequently shoved in with the door being slammed shut behind him.

“Fuckin’ perfect.” He grouses as the squad car speeds off toward the precinct, sirens blaring.

 

“We’re not open right now.” Faith called out from the bar, not looking away from the television that was broadcasting the local news.

“Kinda got that with the locked door and all.” A feminine voice replies from behind her, and Faith whirls in her chair upon recognizing it, seeing two of three Fitzpatricks walking over, Carrie a couple steps behind Kasey, who’s revealed as the one that had spoken when she does so again. “But I figured you might make an exception for an old friend.”

Faith gave a smile to the other woman, the first real smile in days and a friendly nod of greeting. “Heard you guys came to town with that friend of O’Connors.”

“Yup.” Kasey agrees, taking a seat to Faith’s left, as Carrie mirrors her on Faith’s right. “Heard about what happened at that tattoo shop of yours, sorry for your loss.”

“I didn’t know Gio all that well.” Faith replies non-chalantly, grabbing hold of her beer and taking a pull.

“She wasn’t talking about Gio hon.” Carrie says, putting her hand on Faith’s shoulder, but the brunette shrugs it off.

“I ain’t in no mood to talk about that shit.” Faith snarled, still unwilling to broach the topic of her lost child.

“Fair enough, I just thought that you might want a chance to get even.” Kasey replied, not looking at all put off by Faith’s attitude, and the alpha female turns her gaze to Kasey, eyes searching.

“O’Connor has issued a no-kill order, that James agreed to hold to for another two and a half days.” Faith says, her voice dubious.

“Yeah, he mentioned that, but Ethan convinced him that we could pull the hit. Seen as how we didn’t start contract work for Rayne until after he kicked Purity out of NYC, they won’t know our faces, and we can use that to our advantage to get the drop on them.” Carrie answers.

“And you want me to come along?” Faith asks, her tone lifting at the thought of some good old fashioned revenge.

“The Fitzpatricks owe your family that much, given it’s kind of our fault you lost Sarah and Trent.” Kasey replies.

“That wasn’t your fault, both of them knew the risks.” Faith returns, having long since stopped blaming anyone outside of Purity for the deaths of those two particular siblings.

“Still, I feel the need to make up for it.” Kasey says, her tone determined. “Shane’s out on the hunt, trying to track down one of them we had a fix on. He’s gonna call when he finds her.”

“Her?” Faith questions. “Justine Cooper?” she names the only female member of the cult beside Veruca, who was on their side, and her eyes darken once more as both Kasey and Carrie nod. “That bitch is mine, she’s the one that shot me at Tainted, her and the one from Iowa.”

 

Erica’s thoughts were a raging storm within her own head as she walked out the back entrance of the casino, moving across the sidewalk and then into the street toward the parking garage used by the casino’s employees, not paying attention to the traffic and lets out a yelp as someone suddenly grabs her, and pulls her back as a car comes within a couple inches from splattering her all over the place.

Xander couldn’t believe his good fortune as he realized the blonde he’d just kept from getting flattened by a Buick that she’d stepped into the path of, was the same one he’d met a few weeks ago at O’Connor’s estate.

“Careful there.” Xander commented as he watched the blonde girl shake herself out of the shock from her near death experience.

“T-thanks.” She says, her voice a bit shaky as she turns to face Xander and her eyes widen slightly as she recognizes him as well. “Oh, hey. You’re that guy that helped me get that meeting with my sister’s new boyfriend a while back right?”

“Guilty.” Xander admits, giving her a smile, which she returns as the shock fades. “Don’t suppose you’d be free for to grab a coffee sometime, I mean you seemed to be in quite a rush.”

“Oh, no. I’ve just been a bit distracted, I’m not quite a fan of my sister’s boyfriend, and she just gave me another earful of how great he is.” Erica griped, then her face colored as she realized how she’d met her savior. “Not to disrespect your boss or anything.”

“Nah no worries, Liam can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.” Xander replies, giving a casual shrug. “Just don’t tell him I told you that.”

“My lips are sealed.” Erica chuckles lightly, her eyes lighter. “So as it is, I’m not really all that busy right now, if you really wanted to get that coffee.”

Xander gives an enthusiastic nod. “Now’s perfect, I know a nice little Irish diner around the block we can go to.”

“Reilly’s?” Erica questions, and he gives a nod. “I love that place.”

“Excellent.” Xander grins. “I guess my luck is taking a upswing, about damn time.”

 

James remained silent as he sat rigidly in the uncomfortable steel chair in the interrogation room at Precinct 17, federal agents Knox and Fries in the seats opposite him.

“We know that you took part in the hit on Billy Blim last year, and that you ordered someone inside Shirley House of Corrections murder Forrest Gates last week.” Knox informs James. “We know that both were done by the same blade as well, and once we find it we’re gonna nail your ass to the wall.”

James fixed Knox with a bored look. “Nice story, truly inspired. Love your tie by the way, where’s my lawyer?”

“Mr. Foley, we know that Gates was one of the shooters involved in the incident at your girlfriend’s tattoo shop, that’s motive.” Fries says, with absolution in his tone, but James isn’t impressed.

“I suppose so, cept for the fact that I didn’t even know that this guy Gates was even involved in that, or that he was in custody.”

“Maybe not at first, but Nathan Lehane certainly did.”

James panics a little in his head, but it doesn’t show in any capacity that the two federal agents would pick up on. “Nathan’s in on a four year term, he’ll be out in 14 months if he don’t fuck it up, I can tell you right now he ain’t gonna risk life, not with his sisters out here and needing him. He didn’t kill Gates, or Blim, and where the fuck’s my lawyer?”

Fries and Knox share a brief look before getting up and leaving the room, stepping out into the hall and closing the door behind them.

“What you wanna do?” Fries asks.

“Right now we have nothing to formally charge him with, and even if we had dirt to make him talk, I think he’d still take the years.” Knox replies. “What we really need to do is find the weapon, I know in my gut it’s hidden somewhere in Shirley, then we’ll be able to tie Lehane to the murder, and if we’re lucky Foley too and anyone else involved. For now though, we got no choice but to cut him loose.”

 

“My apologies, Mr. Foley.” said Lee Mercer, the Wolfram and Hart attorney that James and the rest of the Blood Clover clan used, the law firm itself under the control of Liam, though indirectly through his Capo-Regime Holland Manners. “The feds weren’t willing to let me in at first, meddling idiots that they are.”

James gives a nod as he comes up to where the lawyer is standing, turning at the man’s words to throw a glare at Knox and Fries who are still watching him from across the large room that was full of cubicles.

“No worries Lee, they’re just doing what they do worst.” The Blood Clover alpha replies, and then the two begin to walk out, heading for the elevators. Both wait until they’re on the elevator and alone before either speaks again.

“I do need to ask, since Liam requested as to exactly what they were trying to get.” Lee remarks, keeping his eyes forward and head down so that the security camera won’t be able to decipher his words by use of lip reading the silent recording.

“They’ve tied the Blim and Gates murders together, and want to pin it on Nathan Lehane, and me if they can.” James answers, mimicking Mercer’s bowed head as he speaks. “They know it goes deeper, and if we don’t take care of this soon, we’re gonna have bigger problems in the long run that will far transcend Purity.”

“What do you want me to tell Liam?”

“I’m working to fix the problem, tell him to be at that Italian resturaunt Giovanni’s and I’ll meet him there with the details of what’s going down, and if I need anything on his end, I’ll let him know then.”

Mercer nodded stiffly, and then both men straighten as the elevator dings and the doors open, signaling their arrival on the ground floor. Mercer disembarks first, and James falls into step next to him a moment after, the two men quickly exiting the precinct.

 

Aura’s Apartment

Aura knew something was amiss the moment she stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind her, the brunette woman letting out a cry as someone grabs her from behind. She swings her elbow backward in retaliation, catching her attacker in the face and sending him crashing to the ground with a thud and a loud curse from the fallen man.

“Picked the wrong bitch to mess with, you stupid fuck.” Aura snarled as she stepped forward menacingly, her teeth elongating and then retracting as she struggles to control her wolf in the wake of her anger at being attacked in her own home. “Now you’re gonna be in all sorts of shit that I can’t even- ARGGGHHH!” She screams out as a second person pulls the trigger on a stun gun from the shadows, it’s darts sticking into her chest and pumping her full of electrical energy.

The female moonchild knocks a small entryway table over as she collapses to the floor under the assault of two thousand volts, convulsing incontrollably for a few moments before the trigger is released and she falls into oblivion.

The man with the taser gives the first attacker a few moments to pull himself together and then the two of them grab ahold of Aura’s unconscious form, and drag her out of the apartment that they had ransacked. They carry her out of the building and then throw her into the back of the van parked in the side alley, before taking off onto the streets.

 

Shirley House of Corrections

Nathan picked up the phone almost as soon as it began to ring, holding it up to his ear. “Can’t talk on this line, call Brady’s cell.” He says quickly and hangs up, knowing that James had the numbers of all three guards that Nathan would bribe on a rotating basis for use of their cell phone for business. He waits about twenty seconds before the cell rings lightly, and he quickly answers.

“Guessing the feds talked to you too?” The incarcerated Lehane says, his tone heavy.

“We had words.” James replies, his tone sour, although not holding any real anger.

“I didn’t tell them shit, you know I wouldn’t. Especially after what Gates and the rest of them did to my sisters and Trent.”

“Relax Nate, I know you’re solid.” James says quickly. “But you need to dispose of that blade of yours, those goddamn feds are gonna be looking to tie it to Blim.”

“Yeah they said as much, I’m already taking steps to plant it on one of the Aryans, this guy Brian Cutler, he was in Boston at the same time we did Blim.” Nathan says, then takes a look out the glass window to where Tucker is leaning against the wall of the outside corridor, keeping an eye out. He nods at the moonchild outside, who then takes a look down both sides of the corridor, and past that into the main part of the cell block before giving a nod that he still had a little time to talk on the borrowed cell. “I’ll call you tomorrow when it’s taken care of. So how are Faith and Serena doing, I haven’t heard from them in a few days.”

“Bout as good as could be expected, given the circumstances.” James replies, wishing he could give the oldest Lehane a better report on how his twin and younger sister were faring. “I’m taking care of them.”

“I appreciate that man, truly.”

“I’m the one who should be appreciative, given it’s my fault you’re in there.” James apologizes.

“You didn’t hold a gun to my head to make me get caught in a warehouse full of drugs and stolen property, plus you helped get my sentence reduced considerably. Just keep them safe and we’ll be square when I get out, no you-owe-me’s.” Nathan says, then catches sight of Tucker motioning with his hand across his throat in a faux-cutting pattern, signalling to end the call, then walks off to not arouse suspicion. 

“Shit, man. Gotta go, hacks are coming to check this room. Talk to you tomorrow.” He hung up and quickly stuffed the cellphone into his sock and pulls his pant leg over it before walking out of the room.

He gives the guard that was walking over a polite nod as he passes, heading for the pod he shared with Tucker. Alone in the pod, he hops up onto the top bunk that he had claim to, sitting in silence for a few moments before Tucker re-enters the pod, and then Larry a few moments afterwards, closing the door and grabbing the plastic seat, flipping it around and straddling it.

“Doyle’s cousin will have planted the blade by now.” Larry informs them, glancing between his fellow two moonchildren.

“Good.” Nathan replies. “Cause I just got an idea that might get our sentences shortened a bit, or at least a quicker chance at parole. If we play it just right, that is.”

 

Donnelly’s Irish Pub

“Another round of beers!” Serena calls out, glancing past where Cassie was sitting on the other side of the table and then her eyes widen as she catches sight of someone whose face is burned into her memory.

~Flashback~

Serena let out a cry of pain, throwing herself behind the counter of the tattoo shop as it came under an assault of bullets, narrowly escaping a headshot that would have ended her life. She hits the marble floor with a thud and slides a little bit, before reaching into the open cabinet under the counter and pulling out the sawn off, before jumping to her feet and letting loose a blast at the nearest of the shooters standing outside the tattoo shop, letting out a satisfied cry as she hit the smallest of the group with a glancing but still quite painful looking shot to the shoulder, which spun the redhead around before she fell to the ground.

The other three had acted quickly afterwards, grabbing their wounded companion and escaping in that black van of theirs. She’d been too preoccupied with the fact that Faith needed immediate help to try and get the plates.

~end Flashback~

“I don’t fucking believe it.” The youngest Lehane curses under her breath, taking some small joy in the fact that Justine Cooper was still sporting a sling that supported her left arm.

“What?” Cassie asks, confused as she turns in her seat and scans the room, her eyes also falling on where Justine is sitting, and subsequently narrowing as they turn crimson with rage. “Oh.” She says simply, her tone hard.

“I’m calling Faith.” Serena announces, pulling her cell phone out and swiftly dialing her sister’s number.

“Rena?” Faith’s voice says through the receiver after a couple of rings.

“Faith, you ain’t gonna believe this, but I’m looking at one of those pieces of shit that shot at us right now.”

“What?!” Faith’s voice boomed through the phone, garnering a few looks from the other patrons nearby, and Serena holds the phone away from her ear for a moment. 

“Holy moon Faith, keep it down.” Serena says as she pulls the phone back to her ear. “I’m at Donnelly’s pub with Cassie, and Jesse’s supposed to show up sooner or later. Okay we’ll wait outside, and make sure that she doesn’t leave. See you in a few.”

Serena hung up and gave a look to her best friend who nods and they both leave the pub through the front door, taking care not to be spotted by the Purity cultist.

 

Brian Cutler’s Home - Concord, Mass

Oz glanced up at the unlit house on the corner of the street, the home of the Aryan that James says was being set up by Nathan and their other friends on the inside for Blim and Gates’ murders. His gaze lingered on the darkened residence for a few long moments, then shifts to do a cursory sweep of the area.

Satisfied that the coast is clear, he grabs the small trashbag on the passenger seat and disembarks from the car, shutting the door and jogging around to the back of the house. He makes short work of the lock on the back door before sliding it open and slipping inside. He closes it behind him and quickly finds his way down into the basement, remaining down there for several minutes before coming up with the empty garbage bag stuffed in his jacket.

He quickly exits and re-locks the door before returning to his car and driving off in the direction that lead back into Boston. About ten minutes later the silence he’d been enjoying was broken by the shrill ring of his cell phone.

“You got Oz.” He says, not bothering to check the number that was calling.

“Oz, it’s Veruca.” Oz’s mood lightens as he hears Veruca’s voice.

“How you doing?” he asks, maybe a bit too eager.

“I’m good, I think I’ll finally be able to give you guys something of use very soon.” Veruca replies, glancing out the window as Percy West got into his car, ignoring the look that Graham was giving her from the passenger seat before the car drove off. “I just got word that Walsh wants to meet with me tomorrow, and hopefully I can get the location of the main headquarters from this.”

“That’s great news.” Oz says with a small grin. “So how are you otherwise, Niki told me to say sorry about the shooting again,”

Veruca gives a smile despite herself. “Tell her not to worry herself with it, it gave us exactly what we needed.”

“I guess so.” Oz agreed, albeit reluctantly, continuing on through the streets as he continues to talk to the woman he thinks himself to be falling in love with.

 

Giovanni’s

“Oh, Mr. O’Connor. Such a pleasure to see you.” Liam froze and looked up from his plate as he heard the woman’s voice, desperately glad that Elizabeth had excused herself to the bathroom when the waiter had brought over the phone, with James calling to say that Nathan had taken care of things on his end and Oz had planted the necessary evidence.

“Margaret Walsh, I’m presuming.” The Hub Godfather remarks as the obviously crazed scientist and cult leader takes the seat vacated by Elizabeth.

“You’d be right.” The blonde woman answers smugly. “Excellent play with what your people did to Mr. Gates. I’d expect no less from such a savage animal.”

“Leave now.” Liam orders, not wanting Elizabeth to come back with Walsh hanging around.

“Why?” the scientist asks, putting an innocent tone to her voice. “Oh, am I interrupting something?”

Liam motions for the waiter to come over, and watches as he does just that.

“Sir?” the waiter asks, giving a curious glance at Walsh.

“This woman is not a paying customer, and is harassing me. Please have her removed.” Liam tells the waiter, passing over a couple hundred dollars.

“Oh, that’s rich.” Walsh sneers as the waiter motions for a couple of the other staff to come assist him with removing the Purity cult leader, who stands to dodge out of the reach of the waiter’s hands. “That’s not necessary, I’m just leaving.”

Walsh moves to leave to illustrate her sincerity, but stops next to Liam and ducks in close before anyone can stop her.

“For everyone of my people dead here the past couple months, I’m gonna kill everyone you care about. Dawn McHale. The Lehanes. James Foley. Everyone.” The scientist promises in a harsh tone. “And I’m gonna start with that blonde friend of yours.”

“GO!” Liam roars, causing Walsh to stumble back in surprise at the outburst that had come with her threatening of Elizabeth so blatantly, and the three waiters that had come up to handle the situation quickly guided the cultist out.

“Liam?” the Hub Godfather turned away from where Walsh was being led out, wishing he could do something to end the problem then and there but there were too many witnesses around, and sees Giles’ assistant standing there. “Is everything alright?”

“We need to leave, something’s come up.” Liam says apologetically, and she gives him a sad nod, having caught the tail end of the scene and assumed that it was something to do with Liam’s other business.

 

Newbury Street

Faith eyes the apartment that the group in the Fitzpatrick’s van, which consisted of the three Fitzpatrick’s themselves and Jesse, who’d tagged along after she’d told Cassie to take Serena home, were staking out, having followed the cultist home from the club.

Her eyes alight a moment later as the light in the bedroom window shuts off and she turns to face the four sitting around the back, readying their guns for what they were about to do. “She just shut off the lights, so you guys set?”

Receiving nods all around, the five moonchildren get out of the van, using their superhuman abilities to stealthily approach the apartment, Jesse remaining just outside to keep watch as Faith and the Fitzpatricks made their way up the staircase to the second floor where Justine’s apartment was situated, quickly taking up position at the door before Carrie kicks it in with a nod from all involved.

All hell breaks loose as the door hits the wall, hanging loose from it’s hinges. A gunshot sounds off from within, and blood explodes from the side of Carrie’s head as a bullet impacts her skull, sending her crashing back against the wall of the outside hallway.

“Bitch!” Shane yells as he sees that his youngest sister is dead, and barrels into the apartment, taking two of the five bullets that Justine fires off in the chest, dropping to the floor in a heap before Justine lets out a curse as the clip runs dry.

Faith and Kasey take advantage of the opportunity, quickly surging into the apartment, guns blazing. Justine’s body jerks as she is hit with a barrage of bullets coming from Faith and Kasey’s guns, finally falling ass-over-backwards, her legs catching over the couch and flipping over it to crash through the glass coffee table.

Faith moves over to where Justine lays amidst the broken glass, her body still convulsing a bit in a death rattle and she raises her gun, firing one more time into Justine’s head. The Alpha Female of the Blood Clovers turns to face the spot where Kasey is huddled over Shane’s form.

“He’s not dead yet!” Kasey cries out, having found a weak pulse on her brother. “Help me.” She pleads and quickly complies, helping Kasey to lift her prone brother, each of the women throwing one of Shane’s arms around their shoulders and dragging him out. Faith doesn’t miss Kasey’s sad look back at Carrie’s corpse as they begin descending the stairs.

“We’ll come back for her.” Faith says, but Kasey shakes her head, despite hating herself for it.

“No. She’s gone, and she’d want us to be able to save Shane if possible.” Kasey replies as they reach the bottom of the stairs, and exit out of the building.

“What happened, where’s Carrie?” Jesse asks as the two women emerge, Shane supported between them.

“Just get the fuckin’ van!” Kasey yells, and Jesse blanches for a second before complying, sprinting off ahead to the van and driving it to meet them. Both women work quickly to get Shane in the back before Jesse slams on the gas and takes off down the road, bound for the hospital.

 

Giles’ Office – The Black Rose Casino

“You know that you need to end things with her.” Giles tells Liam sternly, the two of them sitting in Giles’ office, Ethan Rayne also present, engaged in a private conversation on the far end of the room, giving the other two privacy to discuss their private business. “If Walsh is really serious about targeting Elizabeth, then the best thing to do is send her away, Walsh won’t go out of her way to harm a human unless she thinks they’re directly involved.”

“How can you be certain of that?” Liam questions, his mind warring with his heart. 

“Walsh is a lot of things but she’s about the survival of her species. Killing Elizabeth would be counterproductive to her goals in the long term, plus it would lose her the full trust her people have in her.” Giles replies calmly. 

“You really think they’ll fall for that?”

“At this point, it’s the best we can hope for.” Giles replies, then his face lightens. “On a upnote, you can lift the no-kill order on Purity, Foley’s guy Osbourne called to pass on a message that their friend Veruca id’ed the undercover as Graham Miller.”

Liam gives a nod, the pieces falling into place in his head, and he realizes that Miller was not in fact involved in any of the murders they knew of, nor the shooting at the tattoo shop. Faith Lehane had confirmed that much when they’d spoken at the hospital, before James had closed the ranks of the wolf clan and fallen into silence. Liam hoped that when this was all over that he’d still have allies among Foley’s people, and knowing that if James’ clan deserted him, the other, smaller clans of the city would more likely than not follow by example.

“Well at least one of us has good news.” Ethan intoned as he hung up the phone. “The Fitzpatricks hit Cooper, she’s dead. Unfortunately so is Carrie Fitzpatrick, and her brother Shane is in intensive care, took two bullets to the chest.”

“Fuck.” Liam cursed, pulling out his cell phone and dialing up a number quickly. “Wes, listen we got a body that’s gonna be coming in that I need you and Tara to misplace. No, don’t destroy it yet, she ain’t one of ours, but I don’t want the feds id’ing her.” 

Liam pauses as Wes says something on the other end of the line, nodding to the man’s words. “Yeah that’ll work, just don’t lose-lose her. Last thing the Hub needs right now is a visit from an angry Henry Fitzpatrick.”

 

“How have your stress issues been lately? I mean with the shooting, that’s some scary stuff.” India Cohen remarks to Serena, who’s seated in the leather chair across from the psychiatrist.

Serena gives a small shrug, not having much to say to the woman that wouldn’t go against James’ recently tightened code of silence.

“I can’t help you unless you let me Serena.” India says calmly, her soothing tone only serving to irritate the youngest Lehane.

“Yeah well maybe I don’t want your help.” Serena snarls, the events of the past couple days catching up, including the knowledge that Carrie Fitzpatrick had been killed helping to remove one of the shooters from Tainted. “As a matter a fact, I’m not in any mood to even be here right now. We’ll try again next week, maybe.”

Serena gets up and storms past India, quickly crossing the lobby and out through the exit, letting the door slam shut behind her. She nquickly makes her way down towards the end of the corridor where the elevator bank resides, pulling her cell out as she walks, dialing a number quickly.

“Hey Xander, I need an early pick up from the shrink’s.” She says over the phone, as she reaches the elevator and presses the button to go down. “Okay I’ll see you in ten.”

She hangs up and steps onto the elevator cart as it dings and the doors slide open, pressing the button for the ground floor and then leans against the back wall as the descent begins.

 

“Sorry, but I gotta cut this short.” Xander apologizes to Erica as he hangs up his phone and stands from the table. “My friend’s sister needs a ride and I promised to help her out.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Erica waves it off, then gets a hopeful look in her eyes. “Can I get a favor though?”

“What’ya need?” Xander asks as he pulls his jacket on.

“Just a ride to my car, we can stop and pick up that friend of yours first if you need to.”

“Yeah, alright.” Xander says and then Erica follows him as he walks out to his car.

 

Veruca grinned as she followed Percy up into the house that he’d already confirmed as the group’s primary headquarters, satisfied immensely with the thought that her long standing plans of revenge against her sister’s killers could be fulfilled, once and for all. She gave a small nod to Graham as he was exiting, the undercover fed giving her a look that belayed his displeasure with her not having heeded his warning to stay away, but continuing on to his car, getting in and driving off.

Veruca continued her pursuit of Percy, following the ranking cultist up the staircase to the second level and then down the hallway until they reached a door at the end. Percy knocked three times then pushed the door open, allowing Veruca to enter first, then following and closing the door behind them.

“Andrea!” Walsh greets from her seat behind the desk in the room. “I’d say it was quite a pleasure to meet you, if only the body of the girl that you’re pretending to be wasn’t found three days ago in South New Jersey. You’ve been quite the naughty girl, Ms. Carver.”

Veruca’s eyes widen at Walsh knowledge of her real name, and her mind spins into a blind fury. Having been found out, she saw no point in faking anymore, and by the time she launches herself at Walsh, she’s half transformed. Unfortunately, she fares about as well as Aura had, getting hit from behind with a stun gun mid leap, courtesy of Percy. She half lands on the desk in front with a grunt, but remains conscious, even as the electrical shock ends and she lets out a pained gasp.

“Foolish girl, how stupid do you think I am?” Walsh sneers, her face only a few inches from Veruca’s and the moonchild struggles to gather her remaining strength to strike out at Walsh, but Percy pounces on her first, pinning her smaller and at the current moment, weaker body against the desk.

“Fuckin’ kill me then.” Veruca snarls right back, squirming feebly against Percy.

“Oh my, I’m not going to kill you.” Walsh says, her voice suddenly light, almost mocking. “I have much bigger plans for you dear.” She adds, following it up with a sinister tone, before rearing back and punching Veruca in the face, knocking the moonchild out cold, her body slumping against the desk. Percy eases off the unconscious woman, and shares a look with Walsh.

“Take her downstairs and put her in the cage next to the other one.” Walsh orders and Percy gives a nod before scooping Veruca into his arms, carrying her limp form out of the room.

 

“Thanks Xan.” Serena says gratefully as she hops into the backseat of Xander’s Nissan, giving both him and Erica a nod of greeting, the second holding a bit of confusion in her eyes.

“Hi, I’m Serena. Serena Lehane.” The twenty one year old introduces herself and Erica gives a nod back, as Xander drives the car away from the building that housed Dr. Cohen’s office.

“Erica Summers.” The blonde returns amicably.

“Oh hey, yeah I know you.” Serena comments as she pulls her seatbelt on. “My friend Vi has seen you a couple times at the Fireside.”

“Yeah, I started a few weeks ago, toward the end of August.” Erica answers, smiling at the younger woman.

“So wait, how do you two know each other then, was Vi playing matchmaker?” Serena questions.

“We actually met at Liam’s.” Xander puts in, speaking up for the first time.

“Oh, really?” Serena asks, surprise in her voice. “How’d that work out?”

“I was detailing a couple of his cars, and she was looking to give him a piece of her mind over something.” Xander explains.

“It was due to the fact that he’d dating my sister.” Erica clarifies for him. “Yeah so, then he helped me out today and kept me from becoming roadkill.”

“Damn, Xan. You’re like a bonafide knight in shining armour and shit.” Serena teases from the back seat, turning to look out the window as Xander pulls out into the intersection. A second later she lets out a piercing scream as another vehicle barrels out of nowhere and plows into the front side of the Nissan, the momentum flipping the vehicle over several times with Xander, Serena and Erica trapped within. 

The totaled car skids to a stop about two dozen yards from the impact zone, and none of the three passengers are moving when it finally is over.

 

-End of Episode-

New Character Portrayals:  
Kasey Fitzpatrick – Nora Zehetner [Heroes, Brick]  
Shane Fitzpatrick – Dean Winters [Oz, 30 Rock]  
Carrie Fitzpatrick – Katie Cassidy [Harper’s Island, Nightmare on Elm Street redux]  
Benjamin ‘Bodie’ Stone – JD Williams [The Wire, Oz]  
Sam ‘Tall Man’ Newkirk – Antwon Glover [The Wire]  
5\. The End of Innocence  
The Hub  
Season 1, Episode 5  
“The End of Innocence” (Season Finale)

 

Start of Episode

 

Xander’s eyes slowly blink open, finding himself hanging upside down, but relative unharmed, as he discovers with a quick check that he still had retention in the use of his full body. A glance to the side reveals that Erica hasn’t fared as well, blood dripping into her blonde hair that was hanging beneath her, originating from a nasty gash on her forehead from where she’d smacked it on the passenger window with the force of the impact, her head shattering the glass and cutting her up real bad. 

A look to the backseat shows that Serena is no longer in the car and Xander lets out a curse as he hears someone yelling ‘Hey!’ and then the sound of tires screeching against the street. Xander watches as the van that had hit them speeds off from the scene of the accident, Serena most likely unconscious and inside the van, at the mercy of whoever it was, although he knew it had to have been Purity.

“Hang on!” Xander hears the voice yell again, and then the sound of footsteps pounding up to the overturned Nissan, and is immensely relieved when met with the sight of Bodie Stone crouching down to the broken driver’s side window. 

“Shit, Xan right?” the drug dealing panther asks, recognizing him as well. “You run with Foley.”

Xander nods, spitting out the blood that was pooling in his mouth as the taste of copper becomes increasingly bitter. “Get me outta here.”

Bodie nods quickly, using his heightened strength to pull open the door, and then help Xander ease himself out of the car.

“You got a car nearby?” Xander demands as soon as he’s standing upright, and Bodie nods. “I’ll give you a few hundred for a quick ride to the hospital, for both me and her.”

Bodie nods and jogs off to get his Ford Taurus that’s parked around the corner, as Xander quickly runs around to the passenger side of the car, quickly pulling the door open and unfastening Erica’s seatbelt and easing her semi-conscious form from the ruined vehicle. He quickly maneuvers her body into a cradle hold in front of him, with her head resting on his shoulder and chest. 

“Erica? Come on lass, you gotta stay awake.” Xander lightly slapped the bloodied blonde’s cheek, rousing her as her eyes start to droop, and she coughs up a little blood.

“Wha’ happ’ed… hurts…” Erica mumbled through the haze of pain she’s currently experiencing.

“Shhh.. don’t talk. Save your energy to stay awake.” Xander tells her, and moves out of the way as Bodie’s truck comes roaring up. He quickly places Erica onto the seat after Bodie pushed the passenger door open, slipping in next to her, then helping her to lay across his lap, fairly certain that being upright in a bouncy truck, wouldn’t be very good for the blonde’s broken ribs.

No sooner does he have the door closed, does Bodie slam on the gas and peels off toward the hospital.

“Was that Purity?” Bodie asks as he turns the corner. “The other car I mean.”

Xander fixed him with a look, then nods. “They’ve been targeting the Lehanes.”

“Fuck.” Bodie curses, “Who’s the one that took off for the alley before I got there?”

Xander’s gaze shoots back up from where he’d been looking down at Veruca, to look at Bodie with wide eyes. “Serena got away?”

“Seemed so, she crawled out, I guess and booked it up the alley.” Bodie replies. “I’d have suggested driving round to pick her up, but those alleys are a labyrinth, and if the smell is any indication, this one don’t have that much time.”

Xander looks back down at the now unconscious Erica, giving her a slight shake that she doesn’t respond to. “Erica? ERICA?!”

“Chill man, she ain’t gone yet.” Bodie says, glancing down. “She ain’t gonna make it to the hospital in time though. You have to bite her.”

“What?” Xander exclaims with incredulity.

“Our healing abilities will keep her alive long enough for the docs to save her, trust me.” Bodie answers, keeping his eyes on the road as he speaks roughly. “Or she’ll be dead within the next ten minutes, make a goddamn choice.”

Xander paused for a moment, and then decided that he’d rather have the blonde hate him for the next few hundred years rather than her not being there at all. He quickly takes hold of Erica’s left wrist, bringing it to his mouth and sinking his teeth into her flesh as they elongate, the moonchild pushing the toxin that would spark the change into the woman’s bloodstream.

A few moments later he pulls away, and pulls out his cell phone, starting to dial James’ number to tell him what happened, when the adrenaline wears off and he succumbs into unconsciousness due to his own injuries.

“Fuck.” Bodie curses upon seeing this and puts on more speed.

 

Serena ran as fast as she could go, given the extent of the injuries she’d gotten from Xander’s Nissan flipping over multiple times, down the narrow alleyway she’d just ducked into. A grin comes over her face as she catches sight of the convinence store just around the corner from the WilkinsCorp building just beyond the mouth of the alleyway, and puts on an extra burst of speed, running out of the enclosure just as the van that had slammed into them screeches to a halt a few feet from her.

Serena immediately stops and moves to flee the other way, but the backdoor flies open and she’s grabbed by the two men that jump out at her. She struggles as best she can, but is disoriented and weak from the first attack, easily falling to the cloth soaked in chloroform that is pressed against her face.

Riley Finn tosses the unconscious form of the youngest Lehane in the back of the van before he and Holtz jump back in as well, and their driver Parker Abrams speeds off with haste. None of them notice Serena’s cell phone laying on the floor of the van, having fallen from her coat as she’s tossed inside.

 

The Clinic

“Yo!” Bodie yelled as he ran into the waiting room, drawing the attention of Cordelia and Fred as their conversation was interrupted. “I got a couple people that were in a car accident in my truck, and they’re both in a bad way.”

The two vampire doctors explode into action, quickly following Bodie out to where his truck is parked, half on the curb. They quickly pull Xander and Erica from the cab, and ease the two onto the gurneys as a couple others come out with the transportable ‘beds’.

“Holy shit, it’s Xander.” Cordelia exclaims, recognizing her former lover through the blood that covers his face, and she turns to Bodie. “What the hell happened?”

Bodie gives a shrug. “Some van barreled into his Nissan, he said he thought it was Purity before he passed out.”

“This one has a fresh bite.” Fred comments low as she looks over Erica, only Bodie and Cordy can hear.

“That was him, she’d have died en route otherwise.” Bodie says and both doctors give a nod. 

“Serena!” Xander suddenly mumbles in slumber, and Bodie blanches.

“Ah shit, and one of the Lehanes was with them too, but she got out and took off for the alley before I could get to the wreckage, after that I was too preoccupied with getting these to here to call Foley and give him the heads up.”

“Heads up for what?” Faith asked as she and James emerge from the hospital with Jesse behind them, still having been there from when Shane Fitzpatrick had been brought in the night before. Her eyes widen as she recognizes Xander laid out on the gurney and she turns to face Bodie. “Where’s my sister?!”

Not getting an answer, she pulls out her cell phone and dials Serena’s number, listening to it ring and then go to voicemail before letting out a string of curses.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS SERENA!?!?” she screams at Bodie, who backs up a step, almost defensively as he feels Faith’s anger flare as the woman’s wolf comes to the forefront.

“I don’t know.” He tells her, giving a thankful look to James as he comes up to console the older sister, who leans into him for comfort. “But I’ll help you find her.”

 

Liam was furious with himself as he got off the phone with James, who’d just informed him of Xander and Erica turning up at the hospital.

“God damn it!” He yells, startling Dawn out of her slumber on the couch.

“What happened?” his favored childe inquires, rubbing at her eyes to get the sleep out of them, her tone belaying her worry.

“Purity took another shot, caused an accident that has Xander Harris and Erica Summers in the hospital, and Serena Lehane is missing.” Liam tells Dawn as he pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers, feeling a migrane building up.

“That lounge singer you got me to hire?” Dawn returns, her tone betraying her perplexion. “How’d she get involved in this shit?”

“I’m not sure, but she’s gonna be involved on a permanent basis for here on out, Harris infected her to save her life.”

“Better that than having to tell your squeeze that her sister was killed because of our bullshit.” The brunette replies, trying to put things into perspective before her boss got all broody.

“I suppose, except that it’s going to make things harder since I’m not going to be seeing her anymore.” Liam replies. “Purity is far too big a threat, and I won’t risk her life.”

Dawn nods sympathetically, having made similar choices with several of her past loves, and not envying the situation that Liam currently found himself in. “It’s the right move, much as it sucks.” She says softly, herself sad that things had ended up this way, she rather liked the blonde girl that her boss was enamored of.

 

The Clinic

Elizabeth all but ran into the lobby of the clinic that they’d said Erica had been taken to, almost knocking over Cordelia in her hurry.

“Whoa, easy!” Cordelia chastises, her vampire abilities keeping her and the blonde from crashing to the floor.

“Sorry.” Elizabeth apologizes, pulling herself upright. “My sister was in an accident, I was told that she was brought here.”

“What’s the name?” Cordy inquires, leading her over to the nurses station.

“Erica Summers, she’s blonde like me, and a few inches taller.” Elizabeth replies in a rush.

“Yeah, she’s here. She actually just got out of surgery and is resting, in stable condition.” Cordelia assures the near-hysterical blonde woman, who immediately sags in relief.

“Oh thank god.” She exclaims, the terror for her sister’s safety fading. “Can I see her?”

“She’s still under the observation period for the next hour or so, but then yes, we’ll allow her to have visitors.” Cordelia replies, omitting the fact that Erica had shifted to wolf form from the infection shortly as the surgery was coming to a close, and had not yet shifted back to human, or that Xander and Fred were in the room for when the woman’s sister regained human form, to explain things to her, if needed. 

“Okay, I’ll wait.” Elizabeth nods, moving over to the row of chairs lining the wall and taking a seat. 

Cordelia watches her for a couple moments, then goes into the back area of the clinic, and into the room where Xander and Fred are keeping an eye on the light brown wolf that is laid out on the ‘bed’, its chest slowly rising and falling.

“Any change yet?” she asks her fellow doctor and the moonchild, both shaking their heads.

“Not yet, no. I don’t think it’ll take much longer, though. Least I hope, but-” Xander stops talking as wolf-Erica suddenly convulses, the shaking lasting a couple seconds before she stretches her form out, slowly changing back into human form.

“What happened, and why was I just a wolf?” Erica asks, although she’s already guessed the answer to her own question.

“Some crazy fucks hit my Nissan with a van, I had to infect you to keep you from bleeding to death.” Xander replies, his voice recalcitrant. 

Erica is silent for a few moments as she processes how close she’d come to death, and happy to be alive, she pushed all the anger stemming from the loss of her humanity to the back of her mind, giving Xander a curt nod. “Thank you.”

Xander gave a slight bow of the head, still feeling bad for having to be the one to bite her.

“Hey, I’ll be fine.” Erica tells him, surprising herself with how well she was taking the situation, maybe it was something to do with her newly acquired moonchild abilities. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Your sister is here, I told her to wait an hour, since you hadn’t shifted back yet.” Cordy reports and Erica nods again.

“Code of secrecy and all that?” Erica guesses.

“Pretty much.” The brunette doctor agrees.

 

Boston – Outside Aura’s apartment.

“Well her car’s still here.” Niki commented from the passenger seat as Nina pulled her car to a stop on the curb next to the apartment building where Aura lives, the driver remaining behind as Niki and Vi get out of the car and walk up and into the building.

They quickly ascend the staircase to the second floor and start making their way down the corridor, stopping after just a few feet as Vi halts Niki from progressing further.

“Those bastards that shot up the tattoo shop were here, at least one of the last two.” The redhead whispers, pulling her gun out and indicating for Niki to do the same. The blonde pulls her Beretta out and gives a nod before the pair proceed to the door.

Vi slowly reaches out, turning the knob and pushing open the door, not missing the fact that it’s not locked.

“Aura?” she calls into the apartment hopefully, taking a tentative step in and keeping her gun at the ready. A few more steps in and she can see the mess left by the struggle Aura had with her abductors, and turns to face Niki. “She ain’t here, looks like she’s been taken too.”

Niki nods grimly and leads the way out, Vi following a moment after. The two come out of the building, crossing the street and walking up the sidewalk to where Nina’s car is parked. Vi takes the passenger seat as Niki gets in the back.

“No sign?” Nina asks, starting the car up, and pulling away from the curb.

“There was a struggle.” Vi replies sullenly. “I think Purity took her.”

“Shit!” Nina cursed, then the horn honked as she punched the steering wheel angrily, drawing annoyed looks from several passerbys as she drove on.

 

The elevator opened with a ding, and the two moonchild street cops step off, having been sent to see if Serena had come back to the psychiatrist’ office after she’d disappeared from the accident site.

“You really think she’d come back here?” Pike asks his partner, who shrugs.

“It’s the closest place to where that shit went down, she might have.” JT replies, pushing open the door to the outer waiting room, finding the door to the main room open and the sound of someone vacuuming inside. The two share a look before proceeding, finding a older man cleaning the carpet of the room, who looks over at them as they come in, quickly powering the vacuum down.

“Can I help you?” the older man inquires politely, both Pike and JT flashing their badges.

“Looking for the doc, she leave early?” Pike asks as the two return their id’s into their pockets.

The man gives a shrug, not knowing. “I got a call from the building management twenty minutes ago, said the doctor that had rented out this space had come down and absolved her lease, then took off.”

“Son of a bitch.” JT curses under his breath, that only Pike hears. He gives a nod and leads the other cop out to the waiting room as the old man begins working again.

“What are you thinking?” Pike asks as they stop just before the door to the exit. 

“I think we might have found our rat.” JT replies darkly, and Pike’s eyes widen for a moment as certain things fall into place, but then his own expression darkens.

“For the attacks on the Lehanes maybe, but who’s the one that tied the weapon used on Blim and Gates together for the feds?”

JT doesn’t have an answer, he just stalks out and Pike follows. “We should check Scarlet Rain.”

“Yeah.” JT agrees, stopping suddenly as his cell phone rings, the cop quickly pulling it out and answering. “Sullivan.” He intones

 

“All units, we have several reports of an apparent suicide down on the west side of the wharfs, please respond.” The police radio in William’s unmarked car sounds off as he and Jimmy are driving down Maplewood street.

“We’re two minutes out.” Jimmy notes and William gives a nod, grabbing the transmitter and holding it to his mouth.

“Pratt and Halloran from Homicide, we’re en route.” The vampire detective says, a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that they weren’t going to be finding no suicide.

“Roger that detective.” The dispatcher says back, and William turns down the alley to take a shortcut to the location, getting there a few seconds earlier than anticipated, and William pulls the car to a stop at the lot on the edge of the wharf.

The two detectives disembark from the car, slamming the doors shut before they quickly make their way down the hill next to the wharf, seeing the crowd that has gathered down below.

“Fuck.” William curses at the sight that greets them upon the end of their descent, the dead woman hanging from a rope tied to the railing of the pier. Jimmy stands next to him, his features grim as well, and turns to look at William.

“Another ‘bird’ you knew?” Jimmy asks, but William shakes his head.

“Not personally, no.” He denies. “But I do know who she is.”

He goes silent from there, his eyes locked on the blue tinged face of Aura Matthews, one of the employees of Faith’s tattoo shop. A few moments pass and then he turns to Jimmy.

“Go cut her down, I’ll catch her and we’ll wait for the coroner after.” He instructs, and Jimmy gives a brief nod before jogging back up the embankment and down the edge of the wharf above.

 

“Still nothing.” Faith announced anguished as she threw the cell phone to the floor of the car. “I don’t think she even has it turned on, probably forgot to after her appointment.”

“We’ll find her, I promise.” James tells her firmly, not wanting her to give up hope that Serena was still alive. Faith fixed him with a unreadable look for a few moments, then nods, turning to look out the window as James drives on.

A few minutes pass as the two sit in silence, the only noise being the muffled sounds of the city filtering in through the closed windows, and then James’ cell phone rings. He pulls it out and flips it open before holding it to his ear.

“Give me good news.” He says into the phone hopefully.

“Wish I could boss.” Niki’s voice sounds through the receiver. “Me and Vi went to check up on Aura since she hasn’t called. She wasn’t there and there were signs of a fight. Vi thinks Purity took her.”

 

The Clinic

Erica looked up from the bed as Elizabeth entered, her younger sister crossing the room quickly to throw her arms around the bed-ridden blonde, who winces slightly with the pressure being applied to her battered form in the hug, but then lifts her own arms to hug her sister back.

“Are you okay?” Elizabeth demands, her voice heavy with concern as the two break apart a few moments later, and Erica nods.

“Had better days, but I’ll survive.” The older Summers’ sister replies, lowering herself back so her head rests on the pillows. “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right.”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth agrees, her tone lightening considerably. “I was terrified you were gonna leave me.”

“Not gonna happen for a long, long time sis.” Erica promises, the other girl having no clue just how true Erica’s words would be.

 

Providence, Rhode Island

“This the place?” Jack O’Toole asks Darius as he pulls the car to a stop out in front of the butcher shop that their drug connection had requested to meet at. The Raven Heart Alpha gives a brief nod before getting out of the car, Jack mirroring him on the other side and coming around. The two men are about to enter when Darius’ cell rings and he pulls it out, giving Jack a nod to continue on inside. “I’ll be in shortly.”

Jack nods, the turns and pulls the door open and disappearing inside. Darius holds the phone up to his ear as he answers the call.

“Foley? What going on?” Darius asks.

“Purity’s speeding up whatever plans they have.” The Blood Clover clan alpha tells him grimly. “Aura Matthews is dead, and Serena’s missing. She was with Xander and this other girl that Liam knows too I guess, when they rammed Xan’s Nissan. You need to watch your back, they’re not hiding anymore.”

“Thanks for the heads up man, I’m in Providence right now, with Jack for business. Soon as I get done here, we’ll come join you and help you find Serena.” Darius says.

“Alright, stay safe. See you soon.” James replies before the line clicks off and Darius shoves the phone back in his pocket. 

He crosses the rest of the distance to the door, opening it and stepping in. Seconds after the door closes, the windows of the first two floors explode out into the street, flames shooting out. For a few moments the sound of fire alarms going off is heard, but then the inferno melts them to nothing.

 

“Will?” the vampire detective looks up from the covered body of Aura Matthews at the base of the pier, Wesley and Tara working to load the dead moonchild into a body bag for transport to the morgue.

“What’s up Jim.” He asks, looking over at his partner.

“I was gonna wait to tell you, but given the way things have been the past couple week, I decided you should be the first to know.” Jimmy says, hesitating for a moment, then continues. “After this shit blows over, I’m gonna be leaving Boston. I can’t live in this world of yours, it’s too chaotic.”

“I understand.” William replies, somewhat saddened by the news, but years of practice allowed him to conceal his feelings. “It’ll be a shame to lose you as a partner, but I can’t say I blame you. Just make sure you keep your silence of certain things.”

“Three years of working together and that’s the best you got?”

“What do you want me to say Jim?” William replies defensively. “You want out, I don’t have that option. Nothing else to be done with it, so yeah that’s the best I got. Have a good life my friend.” 

William is silent as he walks past Jimmy and back up the hill, the human homicide detective watching him go for a couple moments before his gaze falls on the body bag holding Aura as Wes and Tara zip it up.

 

Purgatory

Oz checked his watch for the fifth time in the past fifteen minutes, a worried look on his face as his gaze moves to the cell phone on the bar in front of him.

“Problems?” Doyle asks from the other side of the bar.

“I don’t know, maybe.” Oz replies, taking a cigarette from the pack Doyle offers out, lighting it up. “Veruca should have checked in fifteen minutes ago, she’s never been late.”

“You think something happened?” the bar owner asks, lighting up a cigarette for himself.

“I’m hoping not, but the luck we’ve had the past couple days, it’s making me think all sorts of bad shit.” Oz replies. 

“Should James know about this?” Doyle questions and Oz fixes him with an unreadable look. 

“I’ll give her ten more minutes.” Oz decides aloud, taking a drag off the cigarette. “Then I’ll call.”

 

Verizon Building

“Where’s James?” Dawn asks as Faith walks up to where she’s standing at the edge of the building, holding the door open.

“Oz called, said something was up with Veruca. He went to go meet with Liam about something important, said he’d be back to pick me up in an hour.” Faith replies.

“Won’t take more than forty minutes to get a lock on Serena’s cell, given that it’s turned on.” Dawn tells her as Faith comes up and steps through the open door. Dawn lets it close behind them as the two supernatural women make their way down the corridor and then a staircase to the basement.

Dawn leads the way into a room of cubicle offices devoid of any life due to the fact it was the weekend, quickly crossing the expanse and dropping into a leather chair in one of the more secluded offices. She presses the button on the computer tower to boot it up, and then grabs a pad of paper and a sharpie, sliding them across the desk towards Faith as she drops into a chair next to the desk.

“Write down Serena’s number on there.” The Consigliore of the Hub tribe instructs, and the moonchild quickly jots down the digits on the paper.

Dawn quickly starts up the tracing program on the computer, plugging Serena’s cell number into the search query, and then clicking on the button to start the satellite scan.

“Okay, if she’s still within the limits of the suburbs, we’ll be able to pick up her signal and track it to wherever the cell phone is, hopefully they’ll be one and the same.” Dawn informs her. “It’s gonna take a few minutes though.”

Faith nods and shifts her gaze from Dawn to the computer screen, watching it intently as the minutes tick by.

 

Location Unknown

Serena let out a groan as she came to, feeling a wave of nausea hit her a couple seconds before she empties the contents of her stomach onto the floor of the cell she found herself in. She gasps a couple times to catch her breath, and then slowly pulls herself to her feet, using her right arm to brace herself against the wall as she wobbles with the movement.

A few minutes pass as she pulls herself together, gathering enough of her strength to stumble over to the barred wall. She presses her face into one of the gaps between bars and tries to see if anyone’s around, but finds no one in her peripheral, the concrete wall continuing a foot an a half past the bars, and obscuring her from even seeing whatever lies beyond the wall.

“Whoever you are, you better let me the fuck out of here!” Serena yells, hoping that someone is close enough to hear, and she hears the muffled yell of someone in the distance telling her to ‘shut the hell up freak’ and glowers at the opposite wall.

“Who’s that?” she hears a female voice say a moment later, and tilts her head as she recognizes the speaker.

“Veruca?” the youngest Lehane inquires. “It’s Serena.. Lehane. Faith’s sister. What happened?”

“Fuckin hell.” Veruca curses as Serena identifies herself. “I got played damn good, Walsh knew I wasn’t who I was claiming to be the whole time. Bitch had one of her lackeys taser me.”

“They got me with chloroform.” Serena reveals, and Veruca nods despite knowing the other moonchild cannot see her.

“Yeah, that’s how Aura said they took her down too.”

“Aura was here?” 

“Was being the operative word, yeah.” Veruca replies. “They took her out of here about six or seven hours ago.”

“My sister and friends will find us, I’m sure of it.” Serena says, already sure that Aura is dead in her mind, but keeping those thoughts to herself.

 

Black Rose Casino

James finally got through to Liam on the cell phone as he entered the casino, heading speedily towards where Liam’s social club resided, disguised as a VIP lounge.

“What is it?” Liam’s voice questions from the other end. 

“I’m on my way to your club, don’t want to talk in public about this.” James says, hanging up the phone and returning it to his pocket as he pushed through the crowds, and into the Fireside Lounge before going up the stairs. 

He gives a nod to Rondell, who knocks on the door as he approaches and Gunn opens it from the other side, beckoning James in and closing it behind him.

“We might have more problems.” The moonchild announces darkly, looking at Liam as he sits behind his desk. “Veruca never checked in with Oz, and she was supposed to finally meet Walsh this morning. I’m thinking she got found out.”

Liam looks grim and gives a nod, turning to Gunn. “Call Holland, tell him to activate the contingency plan.

Gunn nods and grabs the phone off it’s cradle on the desk, dialing up Holland’s office at W&H, and listening to it ring for a couple moments then hears the click of the other end being picked up.

“Boss says to activate the conintegncy.” Gunn says quickly into the phone.

“Ten minutes, and I’ll call you back with the location.” Holland replies, hanging up the phone. 

“He’s gonna call back.” Gunn informs the two, who both nod and fall into silence as they wait.

 

Verizon Building

“We got a lock.” Dawn announced as the monitor beeped and a small window popped up in the middle of the screen, with the information on the location that Serena’s cell phone signal has been tri-angulated to, the address of a farm about twenty minutes outside of the city.

“Excellent.” Faith grinned savagely, pulling her cell phone out and calling James to give him the good news.

“Faith?” her lover’s voice comes over the receiver.

“We found out where Serena is, or at least her cell phone.” Faith reports with hopeful relief in her voice. “It’s this farm in-”

“Sudbury.” James interrupts, and Faith gapes.

“How did you?” she asks in bewilderment.

“Veruca didn’t check in as planned, we think she’s been compromised, and that’s where she is too.” James replies on the other end. “I’m on my way to pick both you and Dawn up, Liam’s calling a meeting to discuss certain things. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay, meet you outside then.” Faith says, hanging up the phone and turning to Dawn. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Just a moment.” Dawn replies, pulling a compact disk out of her jacket and inserting it into the drive, then quickly uploads the virus on the disk to the network server, erasing the log of Serena’s cell being tracked, ensuring the workers of the company wouldn’t be able to do it themselves. When this is finished, she pulls the disk back out and then nods to Faith. “Kay, all done.”

 

The Clinic

“Holy shit!” Xander exclaimed as he turned at the sound of the outer doors sliding open, and is met with the sight of Darius stumbling in, his face and clothes splattered with blood.

“The majority of my clan are gone.” The Raven Heart alpha announcing, half collapsing against the wall as Xander moves toward him. “James was right, Purity is upping their game. O’Toole’s dead, took three bullets for me.”

“Easy man.” Xander helps Darius into one of the chairs, then turns towards where the nurse station is, further up the corridor. “Cordy!” he yells out to his former lover, then turns back to Darius as the doctor makes her way over.

“No need, I’m fine.” Darius shakes his head. “I’m just a bit disoriented from almost getting blown to pieces.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Cordelia replies, shoving Xander to the side as she begins an examination of the wounded moonchild, flashing a light in his eyes a couple times. “Looks like you might have a mild concussion.”

“I’ll be good in an hour.” Darius brushes her off, pulling himself to his feet. “Call James and tell him I’m in for anything he has planned against those fuckers.”

Xander nods, pulling his cell phone out and walking deeper into the clinic as he dialed James’ number. Darius follows after him, reluctantly allowing Cordelia to assist him along.

 

Boston - Streets

“What’s up?” Pike asks as he holds the phone up to his ear, easing his car to a stop at the corner.

“James has called a meeting, just wanted to make sure you knew.” JT says from the other end.

“Yeah I heard, I’m on my way there now.” Pike replies, turning the corner onto the street that the casino was on, slowing down as someone starts crossing the road, allowing them to pass. “I’m maybe eight minutes away, so I’ll-” 

Pike is cut off as the passenger window explodes inward as a bullet shatters it, barely missing Pike’s head. “SHIT!” he yells dropping the phone as he fumbles for his gun. 

He lets out a string of curses as the pedestrian also starts firing on his car, peppering the windshield with holes. Pike takes advantage of a lapse in the gunfire to pop up and empty half the clip into the passenger side shooter, dropping the man to the ground.

He kicks open the driver’s side door and crouches down, slipping a fresh clip into his gun as the pedestrian does the same, both firing at each other once more. Pike manages to drop the second one as well, but is hit several times in the process.

The last thing he hears before passing out is the sound of distant sirens and JT’s frantic yells from the cell phone on the floor of the car.

 

Sudbury – Corwin Farm

Veruca stood from the old cot against the wall of her cell, as she heard the door to the basement open and someone coming down the stairs. She lets out a sigh of relief a moment later as Graham came into view, stepping into the space outside the bars of her prison.

“Thank Christ.” She exclaims, moving over to the bars. “You gotta get me and her out of here.” She tells the undercover agent, who gives a brief nod as he pulls out the keys that he’d pilfered from the guard that currently lay unconscious in the office above. He sticks one of the keys in the lock, beginning to turn it, when a gunshot rings out and he collapses against the bars. 

Veruca lets out a scream as she’s hit with a splatter of blood from where the bullet fired by Riley had pierced right through Graham, and watches in horror as the undercover slumps to the floor in a heap.

“Fuckin traitor.” She hears Riley spit out, and somewhere in the distance Serena screams as Riley finishes opening Veruca’s cell, and tasers the blonde again.

Veruca’s weakened state prevents her from putting up much of a fight as Riley grabs and half drags/half carries her from the room, and up the stairs.

“VERUCA!!” Serena yells from her own cell as she hears the door slam close behind them, tears pooling in her eyes.

Graham, however, is not dead yet as Riley thought. The undercover slowly drags himself around to the front of Serena’s cell, looking up at the girl and beckoning her to get closer as he pulls himself up to the bars.

Serena complies after a moment of thought, putting the side of her face as near as she can get to Graham’s, listening as he whispers something to her, which causes her eyes to widen. She turns to look at him, but the life is gone from his eyes and she realizes that the man is dead.

 

Purgatory

Doyle unlocked the door, pulling it open to allow entrance to Ethan Rayne and Kasey Fitzpatrick at the sound of the coded knock.

“That’s everyone.” Giles comments from his seat at one of the tables near the bar. Liam, Dawn, Willow, Gunn and Cassie also seated around it. The bar itself is lined with the leaders of the moonchildren in the city, with James, Faith, Oz, Vi, Bodie, and Tall Man all gathered, each looking ready to kill.

“Good.” Liam remarks from his seat, as Ethan, Doyle and Kasey came up to the group. “So here’s the plan…”

 

Sudbury – Corwin Farm

Vincent Teller’s head shot to the side at the sound of a thump from just beyond where Riley’s van was parked, his curiosity urging him to investigate. He walks up to the front of the car, about to turn around to see behind it when Bodie and Tall Man grab him from where they’d been hiding in the bushes, any cry he might have made silenced by the hand clamped over his mouth as he’s pulled down out of sight from the windows.

“Die motherfucker.” Bodie spits on the cultist as Tall Man holds him down, the panther pulling his knife out and savagely cutting Teller’s throat. The two panthers quickly leave their victim behind, slowly creeping around the side of the house in time to see Gunn and Rondell dragging a couple more of the cultists into the rows of corn that surrounded the large house.

“Exterior is secure.” Bodie says into the walkie talkie as he holds it up to his mouth.

 

Thomas Holtz moved over to the microwave as it dinged, opening and pulling out the reheated plate of pasta. He moves over to the kitchen table and sits down with his back to the sliding glass door to the balcony. If he hadn’t been half deaf, he might have been alerted to the fact that Oz was just outside the room, slowly working to slide open the door.

Holtz lifts a forkful of the fettuccine to his mouth, chewing it a few times before Oz managed to creep up behind him, and with a quick movement, has a wire around his throat with the moonchild holding it tight.

The struggle is short and brutal with Holtz clutching vainly at the wire digging into the flesh of his throat, and then slowly slumping against Oz, eyes wide and bloodshot. Oz gives the dead man a brief glance of disinterest, then pushes him forward so his face falls into the pile of pasta on the plate in front of him.

 

Dawn held up her hand, stopping Ethan and Kasey from proceeding for a moment as the three came up to the entryway of the living room. She takes a quick look around the corner, counting five of the cultists, including Percy, sitting around the room, watching the television in the corner.

She motions for the other two to stay put and then speedily crosses to the other side of the opening into the room. She holds up five fingers to emphasize the number within, then starts counting down from three. 

At Dawn’s nod, Kasey and Ethan join her, emptying each of the clips on their silenced guns into the cultists, dropping each of them quite efficiently.

 

“What was that?” Maggie asked suddenly, her gaze moving from Veruca, who’s bound to an examination table with leather restraints, the doctor holding a needle that is currently drawing blood from the crook of the blonde moonchild’s arm. The former soldier shrugs unhelpfully, and she rolls her eyes. “Well go find out!” She orders impatiently, and Riley obeys.

He exits the room and begins to make his way to the staircase, but is grabbed as he passes by an open door, getting yanked inside by James. The two struggle in the shadows of the room for a few moments before James gets the upper hand and gets the former soldier into a tight strangle hold.

Riley attempts to bull his way forward and get free by slamming James into the wall, but Faith joins him from the shadows, quickly plunging her knife into Riley’s back and pulling it out to repeat a couple times.

James gives a slight nod to Liam as he passes the door, having been hidden at the top of the staircase, making his way to where Walsh is.

The vampire kicks the door open and strides in purposefully, raising his gun and shooting the scalpel out of Walsh’s hand as she attempts to hold it to Veruca’s throat, the action taking a few of Walsh’s fingers with it, and she stumbles back, screaming out in pain. Liam fires again, catching the cult leader in the stomach and knocking her off her feet.

He quickly strides over to where Veruca is strapped down, keeping his gun trained on Walsh as he loosens the restraints until the moonchild is able to pull herself free.

“Give me your gun.” Veruca requests, not looking at Liam, her eyes fixed on the wounded doctor sprawled on the floor. She hops off the table as Liam holds it out, reloading the chamber in a fluid moment, the click the only sound in the room outside Walsh’s rasping attempts to breathe.

“This is for my sister, you bitch.” Veruca sneers, tightening her finger on the trigger and firing a bullet into Walsh’s throat, and as the doctor clutches at the hole in her neck, the next shot finds her forehead and she stops moving completely. 

Both Veruca and Liam stare down at the dead woman for a few moments before the moonchild speaks. “It’s done. It’s finally over.”

“Not quite yet, it ain’t” Faith disagrees and she and James enter the room. “Where’s my sister?”

“Down in the basement.” Veruca reveals immediately, and Faith nods before hurrying out, James remaining as she runs to find the youngest Lehane.

“That’s Walsh?” the Irishman asks, glancing down at the bloody body on the floor, and both Liam and Veruca nod. “Good.”

“What now?” Veruca inquires, finally tearing her gaze away from Walsh’s body, and realizing just how far out of the loop she’d been with everyone else involved. Neither James nor Liam have an answer for her though, not at the moment.

A few moments of silence befall the room, and is ended with the shrill ring of James’ cell phone, which he quickly answers.

“Nathan?” he asks, then is silent for a moment. “It’s finished on our end, so if you think it’d help you, make the call.”

 

“SERENA!” Faith yelled as she, Vi and Cassie ran down into the basement via the entrance in the back.

“I’m in here!” Serena’s voice calls from her cell and Faith skids to a stop as she reaches the front of the cell. She quickly shoves the prone form of Graham across the floor, so that he’s out of the way of the cell door. “Thank god Faith, I thought I was gonna die down here when they took Veruca. Is she?”

“Veruca’s fine.” Faith replies, drawing her sister into a hug from opposite sides of the bars.

“Got a key, I hope.” Vi announces as she and Cassie go through Graham’s pockets, tossing the item in question to Faith, who catches it in the downward arc.

The female alpha of the Blood Clovers has the cell door open within a few seconds and then the two sisters share a proper, and quite desperate hug as Vi and Cassie watch for a moment, then turn to walk out, knowing that the Lehanes would follow when they were ready to.

 

The Clinic

“How is he?” JT asked Cordelia as she emerged from the back room, Xander, Jesse, Niki, and Nina standing as well, the five having been anxiously waiting for news on Pike’s surgery.

“We removed all four bullets successfully, and Pike’s in stable condition. He’s resting in the ICU, but both me and Fred are pretty sure he’s going to be okay.”

Her announcement is met with delighted hollers and relieved sighs from the assembled Blood Clovers, overjoyed that their clansman would be alright.

“That being said, we did lose him briefly on the table, and I can’t say for sure if this will have any lasting effects or not.” Cordy adds, keeping her voice controlled, and kicking herself for having to dampen the mood.

 

“Well this is going to put a serious dent in my success rate.” Stein remarked drolly as he stood on the edge of the farmhouse that had only an hour before been confirmed as the Purity Headquarters. Now it was nothing more than burned out husk of a building, and numerous bodies had been pulled out of the wreckage.

“Has there been any word from Miller?” Fries asks from where he stood a few feet from Stein, puffing on a cigar as he leaned against his car.

“No.” Stein replies with a sorrow in his voice. “I believe we’re gonna find him among them.” He says, indictating the near dozen sheet-covered bodies laid out around the perimeter of the building.

“You’re not gonna believe this.” Knox tells them as he walks up, stowing his phone back into his pocket. “I just got a call from Warden Salo over at Shirley. Apparently an inmate has information on the murder of Forrest Gates.”

“Lehane?” Fries questions with incredulity, but Knox nods an affirmative.

“He and two others are offering up evidence, in exchange for sped up parole hearings.” Knox reports.

“Make the deal.” Stein instructs, his voice bland. “I want someone to charge in all this.”

 

Precinct 17

“Jono, do you have the report on Aura-” Wesley stopped short in his questioning as he saw that his fellow crime lab technician was absent from his office. Shrugging his shoulders, he enters the enclosed office, flipping through the papers and files on Levinsen’s desk, eyes catching on a folded up post-it that is half hidden under the computer monitor.

He grabs it up, unfolding it quickly and holding it in front of him for a moment. He lets out a muttered string of curses a moment later, and stalks out of the office, shutting the door behind him.

 

The Clinic

Xander looked up as the group of Liam, James, Faith, Serena, Oz, Veruca, Dawn and Kasey came up to the entrance and through the doors to the clinic. The others had departed as soon as they’d heard that the Purity issue had become a worry of the past.

“All good?” Xander questioned as the eight walked toward him.

“Bout as well as can be expected.” Faith replied quickly, before pulling Serena along with her, further into the clinic and seeking one of the doctors to check the youngest Lehane over. Oz and Veruca each gave a nod before following after, the latter leaning against the former for support, still feeling a little bit woozy from the drugs that Walsh had pumped into her.

Kasey also wandered off, heading the room that her comatose brother was laid up in, leaving James, Liam and Dawn standing with Xander.

“You can go home if you want, get some sleep.” James tells Xander, who shakes his head. 

“Nah. It’s my fault that Erica is one of us, I’m not leaving til she’s out of here.” Xander replies.

“Fair enough, but get some sleep at least. You look like shit.” James informs his friend and sub-ordinate.

“Pot, meet kettle.” Xander snarks, then throws his hands up defensively as James throws him a faux-glare. “Fine, I’m going, I’m going.” He acquiesces before moving off to do so.

 

Parker let the brunette woman in the doctor’s garb slump to the floor, having grabbed her from behind and pistol whipped the back of her head to knock her out. A glance at her name tag tells him her last name is Burkle before he steps over her. He grabs the white coat off the back of the chair in the office, quickly shrugging it on before opening the door and stepping out, closing it behind him with the doorknob lock secured from the other side to delay anyone finding the unconscious doctor before he’d completed his intended task.

He stepped out into the corridor and crosses the distance to where the nurse’s station is located, pausing at the corner and peeking around.

A savage grin comes over his face as he recognizes both Liam and James standing nearby, and the one who’s car he’d rammed hours earlier. He takes a step out and starts firing.

 

“SHIT!” Xander yelled as he dove forward to avoid being hit by the man who’d just come out from the west corridor, the bullet impacting into the wall as he slid out of sight behind the counter, quickly turning around and getting up. He pulls his gun out in a fluid motion

James, Liam and Dawn also dive for cover as Parker turns the gun in their direction, squeezing off five more wild shots. He goes to shoot more but the gun jams with a loud click, which Xander takes advantage of. 

He strides out from around the corner, aiming his gun at the cultist, and moving up close. Parker has nearly wet himself by the time that Xander’s gun presses against the flesh of his forehead, the man clearly terrified but not backing down in the face of death.

“Do it, you unnatural fuck.” Parker sneers, and Xander responds by cold-clocking him with the butt of the gun across the face, knocking him out.

He goes to kick the fallen cultist in the face but is distracted by Erica’s scream.

 

“ELIZABETH!” the older Summers’ sister screams a moment after the two hear the shots, Erica seeing a red stain beginning to form on the front of her sister’s shirt, covering her chest.

Elizabeth opens her mouth to say something back, but then clutches at her chest and collapses to the floor. Erica throws herself out of the bed, quickly crawling over to her fallen sister and pulling her into her arms. “No, no, no, no, NOOOO!”

She vaguely hears the sounds of a scuffle outside the room, and then pounding footsteps as Liam and Dawn rush over to the entrance, Erica’s gaze rising from the form of her dying sister to Liam, who pales at the sight.

“Help me?” Erica pleads, her voice sounding lost. “You can save her, please don’t let her die.”

Liam shares a brief look with Dawn who nods and pulls the door closed as Liam enters, allowing the three occupants of the room some privacy for what’s about to happen.

 

Shirley State Correctional

“This better not be more of your bullshit.” Fries warns gruffly as Nathan enters the room and takes a seat at the table across from Knox.

“It isn’t.” Nathan promises. “Your boss agreed to my terms on this?”

He gives a slight smirk as Knox and Fries both reluctantly nod. “Okay then gentlemen, we can do business then. The Aryans did Gates, like they needed a reason with their race purity code. Not sure which one did the deed properly, but I know that Cutler has the weapon that was used.”

“Any idea where we could find this weapon?” Knox asks, and Nathan gives a shrug. 

“They more or less have control of that cell block, could be as easy as just searching his cell.” Nathan answers with a shrug, leaning back in the chair as he glances between the two agents. “Cutler’s an arrogant son of a bitch, wouldn’t put it past him to hide his shit in near plain sight.”

“Do you wish to go into protective custody?” Knox asks a moment later.

“Fuck no.” Nathan replies with distaste. “I do that shit, and the Aryans are gonna know I ratted on their redneck asses, I’d be dead long before any chance at parole.”

“Suit yourself.” Knox says, waving for him to leave. “We get that weapon, you get your chance at early parole.”

Nathan nods crisply, and rises from the chair, moving around it and exiting the room.

“You do know he’s lying about at least seventy percent of that.” Fries comments, and Knox gives a slow nod.

“We aren’t going to be able to pin anything on him this round, he’s clearly already made his moves.” Knox says, closing the folder on the table in front of him. “We’ll give him what he wants, with good behavior, he’ll be out in eight or nine months and when he fucks up, we’ll nail his ass to the wall. Him and everyone else involved in this.”

 

Jimmy strode into the clinic, his eyes wide at the sight of a number of police officers milling around the area, then narrowing as he catches sight of Liam speaking with Robin Wood, making his way over to where his commander on the police force speaks with his cousin’s beau.

He draws the attention of both as he stalks over, the feeling of confused distress almost overwhelming as he still doesn’t know what happened with his cousins.

“Halloran.” Wood steps forward as he reaches them, allowing Liam to make his way into the back, intent on alerting the newest additions to the vampire and moonchild communities that their still human cousin had arrived.

“What happened here major?” Jimmy questions, glancing at one of the bullet holes that marred the white wall of the hospital ward. “I was just coming to check on my cousins, say goodbye before I took off.”

“Some nutjob decided to shoot at a couple of friends of some of the patients here, thankfully no one was seriously hurt.” Wood replies, then gives a nod at Liam sends the Summers sisters out.

“You’re leaving?” Erica asks, crossing her arms in front of her as Jimmy turns to face the two blondes.

“Yeah I…” Jimmy pauses as he takes in the subtle differences in both Erica and Elizabeth, the slight tinge of red in Elizabeth’s eyes, and the posturing of Erica that almost mirrors William’s redhead friend and self-proclaimed moonchild, that he’d met a number of weeks back, and a number of things click into place in his mind. “Jesus Christ.”

Erica and Elizabeth share a brief look, both knowing that Jimmy knows, and then turn back to face him.

“Jimmy.” Elizabeth starts, but Jimmy waves her off.

“I can’t.” He says shortly, then turns and all but runs from the clinic, leaving both the Summers’ sisters looking devastated, and Robin Wood looking troubled. Liam and Xander come out from the back, both having watched the scene and looking troubled.

 

Giles’ Office – Black Rose Casino

“Russell!” Giles greeted over the phone, as he lounged back in his leather chair. “Yes, you heard right, the threat of Purity is over.”

He goes silent for a few moments as Russell speaks for a few moments. “No actually, I called with good news for a change. Liam has decided to go ahead with the purchase of that plot on Nantucket.”

He goes silent for a few more moments, taking the opportunity to pull out and light up a cigar. “Excellent, we’ll get down there sometime in the next week to sign those papers, and I do believe that you won the pot as to how long it would take before Liam sired Elizabeth.”

Giles laughs at something Russell says back, taking a moment to compose himself before he speaks again. “No, I’d imagine he’d rather not appreciate that, but that reminds me. Given the event of Elizabeth’s siring, I’m going to be on the market for a new assistant and was planning on making an offer to your friend Eve…”

 

Veruca looked up at the sound of the door to her hospital room opening, expecting to see Oz walking in, and her eyes widen in surprise as she sees it’s Serena. 

The youngest Lehane closes the door behind her and slowly walks over to the bed, an uncertain look on her face.

“What’s the matter.” Veruca questions, not reassured by Serena’s expression and she immediately lightens her visage.

“Might be nothing, definitely not something to worry over if it is true.” Serena mumbles, trying how best to pass on the message that Graham had given her for Veruca’s ears. “Uh, so you know that Miller was the undercover and all, right? That guy that died in the basement?”

Veruca nods, not sure where the younger woman was going with this.

“Well when the other one dragged you off upstairs, he crawled over to my cell and told me something, made me swear to tell you.”

“What?” Veruca asks, feeling anxious all of a sudden.

“He said that Ava was still alive.” Serena says, and Veruca’s expression turns to one of pure shock as she digests the brunette’s words and the screen fades to black.

 

Season One ending montage:

Erica sings at the Fireside Lounge, doing a cover of ‘Way Down in the Hole’ which plays over the ending montage.

‘If you walk through the garden,  
You better watch your back.’ 

Fries and Knox questioning Brian Cutler about Forrest Gates’ murder, and formally charging him. Nathan’s knife lays on the interrogation table inside a plastic bag.

‘Well I beg your pardon,  
Walk the straight and narrow track’ 

Veruca and Erica being initiated into the Blood Clover clan by James, Faith, Xander and Oz in the woods. Dawn is present as a witness for the vampires.

‘If you walk with Jesus,  
He’ll save your soul’ 

Vi and William are in William’s bedroom, making out. Vi then pulls the detective over on top of her, and they begin having sex. William’s cellphone rings, but both ignore it. The caller id reads ‘Jimmy’

‘Gotta keep the devil,  
Down in the hole. 

Pike stands before Robin Wood on a stage, receiving commendation for being wounded in the line of duty.  
Wesley, Tara, and JT are also present, and Niki is seen with the kids in the front row of the crowd.

‘He got the fire and the fury,  
At his command’ 

Penn and Jonathan pull up at an alley ‘crime scene’, with Jono leading the way down the alley and Penn pulling out his gun and shooting Jon in the back of the head for giving information to Walsh. He then calls Liam and says the rat is silenced. Jesse observes this from his car, nodding at Penn before driving off.

‘Well you don’t have to worry,  
If you hold onto Jesus hand’ 

Darius and Nina driving in a car, heading for Providence to gather the remaining members of the Raven Heart clan.

We’ll all be safe from Satan,  
as the thunder rolls’ 

Kasey sitting alone in the comatose Shane’s hospital room, staring down at a picture of Carrie. After a couple moments she sticks the picture in her pocket and walks over to the window, looking out over the city.

‘Gotta keep the devil,  
Wayyy down in the hole’ 

Eve walks along the beach on Nantucket, passing a sign advertising the coming attraction of the BRC&H coming to Nantucket – 2000. She has a wistful look on her face as she surveys the area.

‘All the angels sing,  
By Jesus, by his soul’ 

Bodie and Tall Man talk outside the crew’s social club, the two smoking cigarettes. Doyle comes up to them, passing over an envelope with cash for Bodie’s help with Purity. Bodie and Doyle shake hands.

‘When they shield you with their wings,  
keep your cross to the lord’ 

Parker Abrams walks into the cell block where Nathan, Tucker, and Larry live, the three giving him menacing looks as he passes.

‘Don’t pay heed to temptation,  
while my hands are so cold’ 

Willow stands atop the balcony over looking Scarlet Rain, as Serena comes in, garnering hugs from Cassie and Bethany.

‘Gotta keep the devil,  
Wayyy down in the hole’ 

Paul Stein being debriefed in DC, explaining about Graham’s death.

‘Way down in the hole,  
Way down in the hole, 

Ethan Rayne takes a sip of his drink as he looks out the window of the plane as it clears the runway of the airport, and takes to the sky, bound for New York. 

‘Way down in the hole,  
Way down in the hole, 

Gunn and Rondell are in Liam’s social club, shooting a game of pool and talking. Pictures of Harmony, Gio and others are seen hanging on the wall.

‘Way down in the hole,  
Way down in the hole, 

James proposes to Faith on the roof of Purgatory, the full moon shining overhead.

‘Way down in the hole,  
Way down in the hole, 

Elizabeth and Liam share a dance in the Fireside Lounge as Erica sings. Holland, Wilkins, Jenny and Giles can be seen in the background, talking over drinks.

‘Wayyy down in the hole,  
Waaaayyyy down in the hole…’ 

Jimmy sits in his car on the side of the interstate on-ramp that leads out of Boston. His backseat is full of boxes and duffel bags. He looks deep in thought for a few moments before saying ‘fuck it’ and turns the car around to drive back to his apartment.

Fade to black.

 

Rochester, New York  
Two Months Later

India Cohen had a carefree look in her eyes as she stepped out into the parking garage, making her way through the rows of cars, coming up to where she’d parked her Escalade that morning, stopping up short at the sight of the manila folder pinned to her windshield by the wiper. Her expression changes to one of concern as she takes the last few steps to the car and pulls the folder free before flipping it open on the hood.

Her eyes widen as she realizes that it’s Serena’s psych file, the one she’d given to the late Dr. Walsh before fleeing Boston, and she goes rigid at the sound of a click from behind her. Slowly turning around, she finds her former patient in question standing a couple yards away, pointing a gun at the psychiatrist as she steps out from her hiding spot behind two cars.

“Serena-” the psychiatrist starts, but the youngest Lehane gives an angry shake of the head.

“I know exactly what you did, how you sold me out to Walsh’s group.” The moonchild sneers. “I just wanted to know if it was something personal, or was the money too much to pass up?”

“Serena I-”

“You know, when I came to you, it was because of immense guilt over the fact that I accidentally killed someone, it was eating me up. You were supposed to help me, and instead you tried to have me killed.”

“I- I didn’t know that they were going to do that.” India says frantically, trying to buy her way out of the situation.

“Well you damn sure knew they weren’t going to throw me a party, you bitch.” Serena curses at her, brandishing the gun, and India flinches before she speaks again. “No matter, I don’t think I’ll feel any guilt this time. Goodbye Dr. Cohen, you have my thanks for all you’ve done, but I shall not be requiring your services any longer.”

Without giving the older woman a chance to reply, Serena squeezes the trigger, the bullet that’s fired catching India in the chest and slamming her against the side of the car. The psychiatrist remains on her feet for a couple moments before slumping down the side of the vehicle, and falling to the concrete in a heap.

Serena strides forward, closing the distance to the gap between cars that the doctor has disappeared behind, emptying three more bullets into the woman as she tries to crawl away. 

She stares at the body for a few moments, a blank look on her face as she lets the silenced pistol fall from her gloved hand to the concrete with a clatter. She turns away and grabs her psych folder as Cassie starts up the car she’d been hiding in, pulling it around to where her best friend is standing, and the moonchild gets in before the blonde drives out, heading for the exit.

“Happy now bitch?” Cassie asks, a playful tone in her voice, and Serena nods.

“Yup.”

END OF SEASON ONE


End file.
